Interpersonal Distance, Affect, and Equilibrium Theory

Summary

Two studies, one in the laboratory (N = 48 male and female undergraduates) and one in the field (N = 28 adult pairs), were undertaken to test the predictions of Argyle and Dean's equilibrium theory of nonverbal intimacy. Seating distance was manipulated in the laboratory as a function of the S's own feeling of comfort. The results indicated that closer approaches produced a reduction of eye contact with an interviewer and less directly confronting body orientations, but no changes in body lean. A second study was conducted in the field to eliminate a potential artifact in the distance-body orientation relationship in the first study. In that study, pairs of Ss, observed in standing interactions, also chose less directly confronting orientations with closer approaches. These results, generally supportive of equilibrium theory, are discussed primarily in terms of the role of affect in the equilibrium process.