The Spatial and Temporal Underpinnings of Social Distance

Justin L. Matthews & Teenie Matlock Cognitive and Information Sciences cogsci.ucmerced.edu

Spatial Cognition 2010 Mt. Hood, Oregon

Abstract Concepts

People describe abstract concepts in terms of

their experience with real space.

We tend to draw on relatively basic domains

that are grounded in everyday physical or perceptual experience.

Gibbs (1994); Lakoff & Johnson (1980)

Implying familiarity, fondness, condence, and trust...

Implying problems in a relationship...

Time, Numbers, and the Web

June comes before July. The rst week of school has just passed. We are approaching a holiday weekend. The number is higher than eight. Six hundred comes after 599. Go to my website. I was at your website.

Boroditsky (2000); Clark & Clark (1979); Gentner (2001) Lakoff and Johnson (1980); McGlone & Harding (1998); Maglio & Matlock (1999)

Pierre, SD

Toronto, Canada

Memphis, TN Nuevo Laredo, Mexico Cape Hatteras, NC

*participants saw a sinusoidal map

Burris & Branscombe (2005)

Psychological Distance
Hypotheticality Social Groups

OTHERS

WE

OTHERS

WE

Is the arrow near or far? DV=RT

Bar-Anan, Liberman, Trope, & Algom (2007)

Current Work
Three studies examine how thought about friendship interacts with thought about physical space. Used a novel drawing task in combination with temporal judgment and distance estimation. Earlier work suggests that greater social distance is associated with greater physical distance.

General Method
1. Read a narrative 2. Draw an imagined route 3. Estimate time and distance Walking
Finish

Driving

Riding

Start

Walking
263 UC Merced undergraduates (60% ) Randomly assign to one of two conditions Read narrative Draw an imagined route Estimate time and distance

Assign
SONA ID# _________ SONA ID# _________

Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you walk through a park and pass by different people. You know these people well. They are your friends. Please draw the route you take through the park using a continuous line.

Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you walk through a park and pass by different people. You do not know these people. They are strangers. Please draw the route you take through the park using a continuous line.

Finish

Finish

Friends

Strangers

Start

Start

KMN-1

KMN-3

Read
Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you walk through a park and pass by different people. You do not know these people. They are strangers. Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you walk through a park and pass by different people. You know these people well. They are your friends.

Draw
Finish here
Finish

Please draw the route you take through the park using a continuous line Start here
Start

Estimate
Using your best guess, how much time (in minutes) did it take you to walk through the park? Using your best guess, how far (in feet) do you think you walked in the park?

Driving
324 UC Merced undergraduates (61% ) Randomly assign to one of two conditions Read narrative Draw an imagined route Estimate time and distance

Assign

Friends

Strangers

Read
Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you drive through a park and pass by different people. You do not know these people. They are strangers. Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you drive through a park and pass by different people. You know these people well. They are your friends.

Draw
Finish here Please draw the route you take through the park using a continuous line Start here

Estimate
Using your best guess, how much time (in minutes) did it take you to drive through the park? Using your best guess, how far (in feet) do you think you drove in the park?

Riding
190 UC Merced undergraduates (61% ) Randomly assign to one of two conditions Read narrative Draw an imagined route Estimate time and distance

Assign

Friends

Strangers

Read
Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you ride through a park and pass by different people. You do not know these people. They are strangers. Imagine you need to deliver a package. Along the way, you ride through a park and pass by different people. You know these people well. They are your friends.

Draw
Finish here Please draw the route you take through the park using a continuous line Start here

Estimate
Using your best guess, how much time (in minutes) did it take you to ride through the park? Using your best guess, how far (in feet) do you think you rode in the park?

Coding
Finish

distance 6 mm

Top

Middle

intersection
Bottom
Start

Absent Present

People who read the friends narrative were more likely to intersect gures
0.75

Intersections per Route

0.5

0.25

Strangers
F(1,259)=5.86, p=.02, 2=.02.

Friends

People who read the friends narrative drew routes reliably closer to the gures in the park
30

Route-gure distance (mm)

25 20 15 10 5 0 Strangers Friends

Ft(1,259)=19.26, p<.001, 2=.07. Fm(1,259)=16.90, p<.001, 2=.06. Fb(1,259)=17.66, p<.001, 2=.06.

People who read the friends narrative estimated it took more time to traverse the park
25

Estimated time (minutes)

20 15 10 5 0

Strangers
t(186.68)=5.65, p<.001.

Friends

People who read the friends narrative were more likely to intersect gures
0.75

Intersections per Route

0.5

0.25

Strangers

Friends

F(1,320)=7.17, p=.008, 2=.02.

People who read the friends narrative drew routes reliably closer to the gures in the park
30

Route-gure distance (mm)

25 20 15 10 5 0 Strangers Friends

Ft(1,320)=18.30, p<.001, 2=.05. Fm(1,320)=14.87, p<.001, 2=.04. Fb(1,259)=12.86, p<.001, 2=.04.

People who read the friends narrative estimated it took more time to traverse the park
25

Estimated time (minutes)

20 15 10 5 0

Strangers
t(202.02)=5.67, p<.001.

Friends

People who read the friends narrative were more likely to intersect gures
0.75

Intersections per Route

0.5

0.25

Strangers
F(1,186)=5.79, p=.02, 2=.03.

Friends

People who read the friends narrative tended to draw their routes closer to the gures in the park
30

Route-gure distance (mm)

25 20 15 10 5 0 Strangers Friends

Ft(1,186)=2.71, p=.10, 2=.01. Fm(1,186)=7.78, p=.006, 2=.04. Fb(1,186)=3.05, p=.08, 2=.02.

People who read the friends narrative estimated it took more time to traverse the park
25

Estimated time (minutes)

20 15 10 5 0

Strangers
t(147.60)=3.47, p=.001.

Friends

Finish

Friends Strangers

Drawing Conclusions

Start

Results suggest that social distance and feelings of

favorability are inversely related.

Drawing paths and social language pattern together in similar

ways; greater distance is associated with strangers.

So much so, that route-gure intersections were 3 to 4 times

more prevalent when reading friend narratives as opposed to stranger narratives, even with no explicit mention of character interaction.

Estimate Conclusions
Estimates of passing time differed across conditions; more time
was associated with friends.

Readers of the friend narratives judged the time taken to

travel through the park to be about 6 to 8 minutes longer than those who read the stranger narrative. narrative condition.

Distance estimates did not consistently differ according to

Interaction Barriers
High Riding

Finish

Walking Low

Driving Moderate

Start

So what?
These data suggest that spatial distance and social distance possibly share conceptual expression. ...the conceptual structure of social relationships, in this case friendship, is linked to thought about space.

future directions...
Space and Social Relationships: How does it
unfold over time? What about processing?

Effort: How might it effect social distance? Agency: What if you are the bystander, and
others pass by you?

Estimates: How do distance estimates relate to

drawings of social scenes?

Thanks to...
those behind the curtain

Interactive Cognition Lab

Marina Bauelos Daniel Titcher Samantha Bryant Michael Romano Danielle Birkley Dawn Felton Kimberly Williams Michelle Greenwood

Yarrow Dunham Robert Levine

Daniel Montello Michael Spivey

Groups did not differ when estimating the distance traversed in the park
450

Estimated distance (feet)

360 270 180 90 0

Strangers
t(255)=-.08, p=.94.

Friends

Groups differed when estimating the distance traversed in the park

2500

Estimated distance (feet)

2000 1500 1000 500 0

Strangers
t(270.56)=-2.05, p=.04.

Friends

Groups did not differ when estimating the distance traversed in the park
2500

Estimated distance (feet)

2000 1500 1000 500 0

Strangers
t(126.41)=.97, p=.33.

Friends