My social comfort zone: Attachment anxiety shapes peripersonal and interpersonal space

Mariana von Mohr; Paulo C Silva; Eleonora Vagnoni; Angelika Bracher; Tommaso Bertoni; Andrea Serino; Michael J Banissy; Paul M Jenkinson; Aikaterini Fotopoulou

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.105955

My social comfort zone: Attachment anxiety shapes peripersonal and interpersonal space

iScience. 2023 Jan 11;26(2):105955. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.105955. eCollection 2023 Feb 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK.
² School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, London, UK.
³ Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK.
⁵ Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (IMPRS), Leipzig, Germany.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
⁷ MySpace Lab, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), University of Lausanne, Laussane, Switzerland.
⁸ School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁹ ISN Psychology, Institute for Social Neuroscience, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Following positive social exchanges, the neural representation of interactive space around the body (peripersonal space; PPS) expands, whereas we also feel consciously more comfortable being closer to others (interpersonal distance; ID). However, it is unclear how relational traits, such as attachment styles, interact with the social malleability of our PPS and ID. A first, exploratory study (N=48) using a visuo-tactile, augmented reality task, found that PPS depended on the combined effects of social context and attachment anxiety. A follow-up preregistered study (N = 68), showed that those with high attachment anxiety demonstrated a sharper differentiation between peripersonal and extrapersonal space, even in a non-social context. A final, preregistered large-scale survey (N = 19,417) found that people scoring high in attachment anxiety prefer closer ID and differentiate their ID less based on feelings of social closeness. We conclude that attachment anxiety reduces the social malleability of both peripersonal and interpersonal space.

Keywords: Behavioral neuroscience; Social medicine.

Grants and funding

818070/ERC_/European Research Council/International