The Relationship Between Invasion of Personal Space and Stress

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between the invasion of personal space and stress in an interview situation. Fifty-three subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. The first condition served as a control group in which no spatial manipulation was made. In condition two, the interviewer (experimental confederate) unobtrusively moved toward the subject (interviewee) approximately one-third of the way through the interview. The third condition involved invasions at one-third and again at two-thirds of the way through the interview. From video-tapes made of each inteview, trained raters assessed the subjects' stress using a ratio-scaled direct observational measurement procedure. Paralleling the findings of previous research, the results of this study provide evidence demonstrating that spatial invasions are stress producing.

This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit: