Measuring Interpersonal Distance
There are two approach to the
measurement of personal distance viz – a – viz; projective measure and
objective/real life measure. In projective measures, individuals are asked to
indicate the preferred distance to an imagined other (using miniature figures,
dolls, or paper and pencil drawings). Real-life measures on the other hand,
include stop distance, unobtrusive observations of actual spacing (naturalistic
observation), and placements or selections of chairs.
A popular and efficient measure is to
ask a person to take a chair and place it in the vicinity of another person.
The distance between the chairs is indicated as the interpersonal distance. In
the stop distance, A will be told to approach B, and the distance between A and
B measured from the point that A stop is referred to as the personal space. The
problem of this technique is that we don’t know whose personal space it is
since it may varies with situation and status of the person approaching. This
approach has been used by Egwu Egwu & Horowitz.
As interpersonal spacing behavior is
mostly regulated in an automatic fashion, individuals are generally unaware of
the distance that they keep from others. As a result, people may find it
difficult to explicitly indicate their preferred interpersonal distances.
Indeed, projective measures show low correspondence with actual interpersonal
behavioral measures and are considered to be less useful in studying personal
space.
Benefiting from technical progress,
several researchers have recently studied interpersonal spacing behavior using
immersive virtual environment technology (virtual reality) in which
participants approach virtual other people. People seem to keep distance from
these virtual persons quite naturally, as if they approach real individuals. Virtual
reality is a potentially useful tool to enlarge researchers’ understanding of
personal space.
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