Abstract
After sixty male undergraduates individually were either insulted or not insulted by the experimenter, each was tested for body-buffer zone (the physical distance between themselves and an approaching person at which they first reported being uncomfortable) by either the experimenter or an assistant. The body-buffer zones of the insulted subjects were larger when tested by the experimenter than when tested by his assistant; but for those not insulted, there were no differences in body-buffer zone produced by the identity of the tester. The results are discussed in terms of the interaction between affect and interpersonal proxemics.
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This project was facilitated by the senior author's Margaret Bosshardt Pace and Paul David Pace Research Fellowship.
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O'Neal, E.C., Brunault, M.A., Carifio, M.S. et al. Effect of insult upon personal space preferences. J Nonverbal Behav 5, 56–62 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987055
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987055