Proximal spacing to facial affect expressions in schizophrenia.
Schizophrenics (N = 40), depressives (N = 36), anxiety neurotics (N = 35), and nonpatient controls (N = 60) were asked to walk forward from a distance of 10 feet to a distance comfortable for possible interaction with facial expressions of six affects and a neutral state, depicted in life-sized images. Schizophrenics demanded significantly greater proximal space than other groups to interact with facial affect expressions, especially the nonaroused ones (happy, sad, neutral state). Multiple discriminant analysis of the "comfortable interaction distance" data revealed that schizophrenic persons may be discriminated with moderate accuracy (52.5%) from other groups.
Srivastava
P
P
Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Mandal
M K
MK
D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D004215:Distance Perception; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013037:Spatial Behavior