The influence of anxiety and personality factors on comfort and reachability space: A correlational study

Although the effects of several personality factors on interpersonal space (i.e. social-space within personal comfort area) are well documented, it is not clear if they also extend to peripersonal space (i.e. reaching-space). Moreover, some research reported controversial effects of anxiety on near body space. Iachini et al. (2014) recently suggested that peripersonal and interpersonal spaces share a common motor nature and are affected by social-emotional factors. Here we aimed at verifying if anxiety levels and personality dimensions are associated with the reduction/extension of the reaching and comfort distances between people. Participants were administered the Big Five Questionnaire and the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory. Afterwards, they had to provide reachability-distance and comfort-distance judgments towards human confederates while standing still (passive) or walking towards them (active). The correlation analyses showed that the extension of both spaces increased as the level of Trait Anxiety increased. The more participants rated themselves as dynamic the more they reduced the size of both reaching/comfort spaces in the active condition. Moreover, a high Emotional Stability is related to a reduction of passive comfort-distance, while a high Cognitive Openness is associated with a reduction of passive reachability-distance. Both spaces are affected by trait anxiety and this may reflect the need of controlling the social context by extending protective body area. By contrast, cognitive and emotional personality components seemed to have differential effects on the two spaces.