Although for many students' stress is a natural part of university life, new stress sources have come into the picture with the pandemic. A "phenomenological" method, one of the qualitative analysis methods, was used in this study, which seeks to reveal the effects of various aspects of the pandemic on the life of university students.…

Interpersonal distance (IPD) is a simple social regulation metric which is altered in autism. We performed a stop-distance paradigm to evaluate IPD regulation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and control groups in a real versus a virtual environment mimicking in detail the real one. We found a bimodal pattern of IPDs only in ASD. Both groups…

Protective face masks were one of the central measures to counteract viral transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research indicates that face masks impact various aspects of social cognition, such as emotion recognition and social evaluation. Whether protective masks also influence social avoidance behavior is less clear. Our project…

A new virtual reality task was employed which uses preference for interpersonal distance to social stimuli to examine social motivation and emotion perception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Nineteen high function children with higher functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) and 23 age, gender, and IQ matched children with typical…

A new virtual reality task was employed which uses preference for interpersonal distance to social stimuli to examine social motivation and emotion perception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Nineteen children with higher functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFA SD) and 23 age, gender, and IQ matched children with typical development…

The study investigated the influence of spatial density on four 3- and 4-year-old children's social behavior during freeplay periods. Group data analyses indicated that the restricted freeplay setting resulted in a greater percentage of intervals with child-child socially directed behavior. (Author/DB)

To investigate the involvement of spatial and social density in the appreciation of humor, adolescents participated under conditions of high and low spatial density. High spatial density was found to significantly diminish appreciation of three humor types. Significant sex and age differences in reactivity to spatial density were also found.…

Examines the dominant role space plays in human social experience. Touches on a number of issues, including territoriality, public v private space, and access to and control over space. (GT)

Use level, visual encounters, crowding expectations, and feelings were examined by regression techniques to explain perceived crowding among innertube floaters. Degree of user specialization and specificity for any given activity and place is offered as an explanation for the discrepancy from previous findings. (Author/DF)

Observes the seating arrangements by sex of three or more people seated at rectangular tables in 176 social and 150 nonsocial settings. Postulates the importance of situational context and learned sexual norms in the observed spatial behaviors. (RL)

College students seated outdoors and alone on a university campus were approached by a same-sexed "invader" who sat nine inches or 18 inches away. The "invader" asked permission before sitting down or said nothing. Findings agree with equilibrium theory. Presented as the 1976 conference of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.…

The study examines changes in assertiveness, territoriality, and personal space as a function of group assertion training. Subjects were 42 females who were assigned to either a treatment (assertion training) group or to a control group. Implications for counseling and use of ethological constructs are discussed. (Author)

Proxemics is a simulation designed to show how man exhibits different behaviors in given distances. Additionally, the simulation, in most instances, shows how people are feeling toward one another at the time a particular distance is used. The four main distances that man observes are intimate, personal, social, and public. Each of these distances…

This research project used 93 college students to study the correlation between neuroticism and interpersonal space. The study shows that stressed persons prefer larger social distances than do well adjusted persons. Results also revealed a proxemic difference related to sex of the experimenters, with subjects prefering to sit closer to female…

This book presents an analysis of the concepts of privacy, crowding, territory, and personal space, with regard to human behavior. Intended as an introduction to the environment-and-behavior field for undergraduate and graduate students, as a preliminary guide to research and theory for researchers, and as a model for integrating environmental and…