This study investigated the role of action constraints related to an object as regards allocentric distance estimation in extrapersonal space. In two experiments conducted in both real and virtual environments, participants intending to push a trolley had to estimate its distance from a target situated in front of them. The trolley was either empty (i.e., light) or loaded with books (i.e., heavy). The results showed that the estimated distances were larger for the heavy trolley than for the light one, and that the actual distance between the participants and the trolley moderated this effect. This data suggests that the potential mobility of an object used as a reference affects distance estimation in extrapersonal space. According to embodied perception theories, our results show that people perceive space in terms of constraints related to their potential actions.
Grounded theory argues that perceptual and memory processes share common sensorimotor properties, and that they influence each other during perceptual processing of the environment’s features. When these principles are applied to social cognition, it was shown that to live, or represent, a situation related to a social distance concept (e.g., ostracism) leads to a similar bias on the perceptual judgements of the space’s properties, illustrating that distance-physical cues are intrinsically linked to social concepts. In two experiments using an Ebbinghaus illusion based-paradigm, we investigated the symmetrical incidence produced by a perceptual physical (Experiment 1) and conceptual social distance (Experiment 2) on the perceptual judgements of size. The present findings have shown an analogical pattern of results, regardless of whether the perceived distance between the central and inducer disks was physically or conceptually manipulated. Experiment 1 indicated that when the physical distance between these latter disks was important, the size-contrast perceptual bias was weaker. Experiment 2 has shown a similar weakness of the Ebbinghaus illusion when the social distance was present between the central and inducer disks. A plausible explanation for both sets of findings is that insofar as social distance concepts are physically based, it appears that a perceptual dimension of physical distance can be reactivated by the presence of a conceptual social distance between stimuli. As a consequence, it is not surprizing that a analogical size-contrast perceptual bias emerges when a perceptual physical distance and conceptual social distance are inserted in Ebbinghaus illusion figures.
Social baseline theory states that there are differences in how humans integrate social resources into their economy of action when they face environmental demands. However, although several authors suggested that extraversion may be an indicator of the social baseline, no study has demonstrated it. The present study aims to test this hypothesis and, in particular, examines whether extraversion is a specific indicator of the social baseline. In two experiments, participants were asked to move rolls either alone (with their hands), or with the help of a social resource (Experiment 1), or a tool (Experiment 2). Results showed that extraversion predicted the choice to use both types of resource. Specifically, the more participants were extraverted, the more they tended to consider the use of the social resource or the tool as beneficial. We argue that these results indicate that extraversion is not specifically an indicator of the social baseline, but rather an indicator of how individuals integrate technical and social resources into their economy of action. In addition, this study encourages future research endeavors to define what constitutes a resource and how it could fit into the Social Baseline Theory.
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