Middlemist

• Procedure

  • A field experiment that was conducted in a men's lavatory 
  • Participants (unaware of the study) were made to use the far left urinal of a 3 urinal set
  • A confederate was either next to the participant or left a urinal gap, so used the far right urinal (or no confederate in the control condition)
  • Observations were made via stopwatch (using a hidden periscope).  The DV’s were (1) time between unzipping and the beginning of urination and (2) time spent urinating
• Procedure 2

  • This study was carried out in a men's lavatory in a library in America. The lavatory had three urinals and a cubical
  • The experimenters set up a periscope hidden by some books in the cubicle and an experimenter stayed in there to time the length of delay onset and duration of urinating with a stopwatch
  • There were three different conditions, in one the participant was not approached, in the second a confederate used a nearby urinal at the same time, and in the third the confederate used the urinal next to the participant
• Results


  The results confirmed that closer distances lead to increase in micturition delay and an increase in micturition persistence, supporting the arousal model of personal space
• Aim


  Designed to test theory that invasions of personal space cause psychological arousal scale that behaviour responses to personal space invasion occurs because they reduce arousal