Listening to a conversation with aggressive content expands the interpersonal space

The distance individuals maintain between themselves and others can be defined as 'interpersonal space'. This distance can be modulated both by situational factors and individual characteristics. Here we investigated the influence that the interpretation of other people interaction, in whi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-03, Vol.13 (3), p.e0192753-e0192753
Main Authors: Vagnoni, Eleonora, Lewis, Jessica, Tajadura-Jiménez, Ana, Cardini, Flavia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggressiveness (Psychology)
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
Interpersonal communication
Medicine and Health Sciences
Personal space
Social Sciences
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The distance individuals maintain between themselves and others can be defined as 'interpersonal space'. This distance can be modulated both by situational factors and individual characteristics. Here we investigated the influence that the interpretation of other people interaction, in which one is not directly involved, may have on a person's interpersonal space. In the current study we measured, for the first time, whether the size of interpersonal space changes after listening to other people conversations with neutral or aggressive content. The results showed that the interpersonal space expands after listening to a conversation with aggressive content relative to a conversation with a neutral content. This finding suggests that participants tend to distance themselves from an aggressive confrontation even if they are not involved in it. These results are in line with the view of the interpersonal space as a safety zone surrounding one's body.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0192753