An Attempted Clarification of the Psychological Distance Construct

Children's Parental Schemata as Related to Reading Achievement

Rubin (1968) found that boys achieving in arithmetic employ schemata which place “self” nearer to a “Mother” figure than to a “Father” figure. The converse was true for underachieving boys. Weinstein (1968) reported comparable results for boys with both arithmetic and reading achievement. The present study showed similar parental schema relationship for 140 fifth grade girls as well as 134 boys and reading achievement level. Girls in the lowest reading group placed “self” much further from “Mother” than did girls in the top reading group. Other relationships and theoretical models are discussed.

On the Validity of Projective Measures of Interpersonal Distance

A model of the cognitive basis of the subject's response to projective measures of interpersonal distance is described and used as a basis for arguing for the validity of these methods in research on cultural patterns of interpersonal distance regulation.

Effects of procedural variations in measuring interpersonal distance by means of representational space

To determine whether two commonly employed variations in the administration of personal space measures would significantly influence performance, 40 male and 40 female college students were administered the task under two conditions: placing a number of self figures in relation to fixed social objects and placing the same social objects in relation to fixed self figures. There were no significant differences in separation distances or in vertical positioning under the two conditions. The study also investigated the degree to which the selected personality dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism, and internal versus external control related to schematic space.

The effects of self-concept, trust, and imagined positive or negative self-disclosures on psychological space

This study focused on some of the determinants of schematic interactional distance based on an analysis of social learning processes. It was hypothesized that closer interpersonal constructions would be associated with a more positive rather than negative self-concept, a greater rather than lesser degree of trust, and a covert positive rather than negative self-disclosure to a significant other. One hundred fifty-nine male and female undergraduate students were administered the Tennessee Self Concept Scale and Jourard's Self-Disclosure Questionnaire. Of these Ss, 82 were also given either positive or negative covert self-disclosure conditions. Interactional distances consisted of "Self" placements in relation to several key social target representations. The results supported the hypothesis regarding the relationship between self-concept and psychological distance, but only for females. There was also a tendency for more trusting females to produce closer distances than less trusting females. These results, as well as the obtained significant sex differences in distancing responses and in renditions of vertical displacements, were discussed within the context of culturally determined sex role differences.