Social Psychology Commons^™

Darling, Get Closer To Me: Spatial Proximity Amplifies Interpersonal Liking, Ji Eun Shin, Eunkook Suh, Norman P. Li, Kangyong Eo, Sang Chul Chong, Ming-Hong Tsai

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Does close distance increase liking for a social object? In a preliminary sociogram task, an association between proximity and intimacy was found in drawings of self and others. In three experimental studies, male participants consistently preferred female targets who were (actually or appeared to be) close than far from them. Distance was manipulated through various means—sitting distance (Study 2), presenting two facial images separately to each eye by a stereoscopic device (Study 3), or a video clip (Study 4). This effect was stronger among those with deprived social needs and occurred in part because close (vs. far) targets seemed psychologically …