Perceived Intimacy, Physical Distance and Eye Contact

Scherer, Shawn E.; Schiff, Myra R.

doi:10.2466/pms.1973.36.3.835

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…However, mutual gaze transmits information above and beyond linguistic regulation. Research demonstrates that people who exhibit high levels of mutual gaze are perceived as intimate (Scherer & Schiff, 1973), attentive (Breed, Christiansen, & Larson, 1972), competent (Sodikoff, Firestone, & Kaplan, 1974), and powerful (Argyle, Lefebvre, & Cook, 1974). In addition, people can be inuenced by mutual gaze without necessarily being aware of it (Zajonc, 1980).…”

Section: Mutual Gazementioning

confidence: 95%

Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments

Bailenson

Blascovich

Beall

et al. 2001

Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments

405

274

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During the last half of the twentieth century, psychologists and anthropologists have studied proxemics, or spacing behavior, among people in many contexts. As we enter the twenty-rst century, immersive virtual environment technology promises new experimental venues in which researchers can study proxemics. Immersive virtual environments provide realistic and compelling experimental settings without sacri cing experimental control. The experiment reported here tested Argyle and Dean's (1965) equilibrium theory's speci cation of an inverse relationship between mutual gaze, a nonverbal cue signaling intimacy, and interpersonal distance. Participants were immersed in a three-dimensional virtual room in which a virtual human representation (that is, an embodied agent) stood. Under the guise of a memory task, participants walked towards and around the agent. Distance between the participant and agent was tracked automatically via our immersive virtual environment system. All participants maintained more space around agents than they did around similarly sized and shaped but nonhuman-like objects. Female participants maintained more interpersonal distance between themselves and agents who engaged them in eye contact (that is, mutual gaze behavior) than between themselves and agents who did not engage them in eye contact, whereas male participants did not. Implications are discussed for the study of proxemics via immersive virtual environment technology, as well as the design of virtual environments and virtual humans. Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual EnvironmentsProxemics, the study of personal space and interpersonal distance, began more than four decades ago. Hall (1959) and Sommer (1959) demonstrated that people maintain personal or buffer space around themselves and each other. Although the size of the buffer space remains remarkably stable across individuals, certain conditions-for example nonverbal expressions of intimacy (such as mutual gaze)-foster its expansion or contraction. Argyle and Dean (1965) describe the interaction between mutual gaze and proxemic behaviors. According to their intimacy equilibrium model, the two behaviors are inversely related to each other. Mutual gaze nonverbally promotes intimacy which, if inappropriate to the relationship between interactants, is decreased by increases in personal space (which nonverbally promotes less intimacy).Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) raise at least two intriguing issues for proxemics research. One involves the validity of using IVE technology (IVET) Bailenson et al. 583

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Section: Mutual Gazementioning

confidence: 95%

Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments

Bailenson

Blascovich

Beall

et al. 2001

Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments

405

274

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Little research has examined the nonverbal cues that correspond to increases in such arousal. However, if nonverbal indicators of intimacy, attraction, liking, and similarity can be taken as possible signals of attraction-based arousal, then positively valenced arousal should be evidenced by increased involvement and affiliation cues, such as more gaze time, forward lean, close proximity, smiling, touch, postural attentiveness, gestural animation, vocal animation, faster tempo, shorter pauses and response latencies, and vocal warmth (Burgoon, Buller, Hale, & deTurck, 1984;Byrne, Ervin, & Lamberth, 1970;Coker & Burgoon, 1987;Scherer & Schiff, 1973;Siegman, 1978Siegman, , 1979. High social arousal may also be accompanied by natural laughter, which may serve as an arousal release mechanism (Chapman, 1975).…”

Section: Proxemic Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nature of Arousal and Nonverbal Indices

Burgoon¹,

Kelley²,

Newton³

et al. 1989

Human Comm Res

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Thecurrent monographasserts that nonverbal behaviorscan serveas usefulovert indices of experienced arousal. Various conceptualizutions of arousal and factors eliciting arousnl in communication situations are examined. It is proposed that, from a communicntion standpoint, indices of arousal and arousal change are best classijied along two dimensions of arousal intensity and arousal valence. Diverse bodies of literature on nonverbal coiicornitaii ts ojarousnlare reviewed. As afirst test ofwhether separate profiles exist for negatively, as opposed to positively or neutrally, valenced arousal, data are analyzed from a mock-interview experiment in which, following a baseline interview, participants (N=52) were subjected by an interviewer to either increased or decreased involvement. 717e involvement changes were expected to elevate arousal intensity for all participants nnd induce positively or negatively valenced arousal in the two respective conditions. Polynomial regressions and z-test comparisons of correlations revealed that 16 composites, comprising a total of47 nonverbal vnriables, showed significant associations with clinnges in arousal.

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“…Many studies have shown that gaze behaviors are related to a person’s likeability. For example, studies have shown that people in photographs and videotapes are rated as liking each other more when they share high levels of gaze (Kleinke, Meeker, & Fong, 1974; Mehrabian, 1968; Naiman & Breed, 1974; Scherer & Schiff, 1973; Thayer & Schiff, 1974). Researchers have also found that gaze influences people’s liking for each other; specifically in moderation, as study participants preferred people who provided moderate amounts of gaze over constant or no gaze (Argyle, Lefebvre, & Cook, 1974).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Eye Gaze Patterns in Clinician–Patient Interaction With Lag Sequential Analysis

Montague

Chen

et al. 2011

Hum Factors

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Objective The aim of this study was to examine whether lag-sequential analysis could be used to describe eye gaze orientation between clinicians and patients in the medical encounter. This topic is particularly important as new technologies are implemented into multi-user health care settings where trust is critical and nonverbal cues are integral to achieving trust. This analysis method could lead to design guidelines for technologies and more effective assessments of interventions. Background Nonverbal communication patterns are important aspects of clinician-patient interactions and may impact patient outcomes. Method Eye gaze behaviors of clinicians and patients in 110-videotaped medical encounters were analyzed using the lag-sequential method to identify significant behavior sequences. Lag-sequential analysis included both event-based lag and time-based lag. Results Results from event-based lag analysis showed that the patients’ gaze followed that of clinicians, while clinicians did not follow patients. Time-based sequential analysis showed that responses from the patient usually occurred within two seconds after the initial behavior of the clinician. Conclusion Our data suggest that the clinician’s gaze significantly affects the medical encounter but not the converse. Application Findings from this research have implications for the design of clinical work systems and modeling interactions. Similar research methods could be used to identify different behavior patterns in clinical settings (physical layout, technology, etc.) to facilitate and evaluate clinical work system designs.

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Perceived Intimacy, Physical Distance and Eye Contact

Cited by 27 publications

References 7 publications

Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments

Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments

The Nature of Arousal and Nonverbal Indices

Modeling Eye Gaze Patterns in Clinician–Patient Interaction With Lag Sequential Analysis

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