Affective reactions to interpersonal distances by friends and strangers

An experiment was conducted to determine affective reactions to interpersonal distances. Pairs of male-female friends or strangers were exposed to six interpersonal distances, and their reactions to each distance were assessed. The results showed that interpersonal distances could be “mapped” and that maps differed for friends and strangers. The results also showed that reactions increased in positivity as distance between friends decreased, but for strangers positivity increased, then decreased with decreasing interpersonal distance. The latter finding was interpreted as providing limited support for Sundstrom and Altman’s theory. It was suggested that future research might be improved by adopting a “zone approach” instead of the common “personal-space approach” and that more attention should be directed toward the analysis of affective responses to interpersonal distances.