Social Distance

This is an activity designed to process activity to find out the relationship between mental distance and the distance shown in our eyes.

Starting Point

During the pandemic situation, keeping social distance becomes the key to preventing the pandemic. As a result, our social distance was measurable by the government’s actions. However, as an abstract element in our social reach, can psychological stretch be felt by each other in the premise of unmeasurable? Could the psychological distance be measured as the social distance in the epidemic period?

Here are some actions for preventing the pandemic period. (right side of the image)

Research & References

Nowadays, "social distance" becomes a popular topic for people to discuss, and this word was selected for the 2020 New Words and Buzzwords Awards in Japan on November 5, 2020. Psychologists found that anyone needs a self-space that is easy to handle in his/her comfort zone, when people are socializing with each other, their distance will show their relationships and mental status, as well as the national and cultural features.

It makes me think about a new popular word at that time: Interpersonal perception, which means the perception of the relationship between people’s communication. It depends on appearance, behavior, and personality.

And I also found some research and theories about people's social distance. According to Edward Hall's article The Hidden Dimension, Hall pointed out the specific social distance between different people in different relationships:

• When people's distance is between about 360 to 750 centimeters, they are just strangers in public distance.

• When their distance shrinks to about 120 to 360 centimeters, their relationship turns closed, and become classmates or colleagues with social distance.

• When their distance becomes 45 to 120 centimeters, which becomes personal distance and their relationship is also close to being friends.

• Finally, When their distance is close to 0 to 45 centimeters, it means they fall in love and start a romantic relationship with intimate distance.

Besides, Arthur Schopenhauer also showed his idea of it, which is called Hedgehog Effect: It emphasizes the importance of keeping a proper psychological distance in interpersonal relationships.

[Interview]

Based on the desk research, I considered making an interview to take a reference. And here I designed some questions:

Interview questions

1. Q: How is your feel when you meet new friends or roommates at first? 2. Q: So, it is important for you to meet this kind of passionate person? 3. Q: When you work with your team members, how do you consult with them? 4. Q: Do you have any decisions about making friends? 5. Q: How would you do when you have a chance to communicate with your idol? Do you want to get a closer relationship with him/her? 6. Q: What do you think about me? According to Edward Hall’s theory of interpersonal relationship, which kind of distance do you consider our relationship belongs to?

I find some participants to ask them these questions, and here I use my friend Ruilin's answers as an example.

Interviewee: Ruilin H (20), Junior student at university.

1. Q: How is your feel when you meet new friends or roommates at first?

A: I feel nervous when I first meet them. But luckily, they are kind and passionate, thanks to them and I feel much more relaxed when I talk with them.

2. Q: So, it is important for you to meet this kind of passionate person?

A: Yes, because they can lead me to have a chance to talk, they can find topics easily and encourage me to talk with them. As a result, I can get closer to my roommate. Of course, I will feel uncomfortable and dislike if they are over-passionate to ask me some private questions to me. That is very awkward, isn’t it?

3. Q: When you work with your team members, how do you consult with them?

A: I was quite worried about it… thanks to the internet, we can discuss the topic via social media. Because I do not know who he or she is, I must speak something carefully. I am afraid to offend someone who is not my acquaintance.

4. Q: Do you have any decisions about making friends?

A: Sure, I prefer to observe somebody’s personality. If he or she makes quick decisions and has his own advice, I will be satisfied to group with them and get a closer social distance. However, if he or she too depends on others when doing the group project, I will not want to group with he/she at all.

5. Q: How would you do when you have a chance to communicate with your idol?

Do you want to get a closer relationship with him/her?

A: I think I have Platonic feelings for him/her. Although I like him, I will not intentionally close the distance.

6. Q: What do you think about me?

According to Edward Hall’s theory of interpersonal relationship, which kind of distance do you consider our relationship belongs to?

A: You are my best friend you know! I think our social distance is about 45cm!

imponderabilia (1977)

the artist is present (2010)

the event of a thread (2012)

you are the one(2010)

[Media references]

In addition, I searched for some art and media references to think about which format my work can do. The most typical work is the performance art "Imponderabilia" made by Abramovic and Ulay in 1977, which shows the distance between Abramovic and Ulay while people have to go through the gate between them.

Also, Abramovic's other performance artwork "The Artist Is Present" in 2010 is my reference, too. In the gallery, Abramovic let people sit down and stare at her, which focuses on their psychological changes as time pass.

Besides, Ann Hamilton's installation art "The event of a thread" is a great reference (2012), which let people can entertain and enjoy the installation. The artwork associates strangers and lets them make activities with the artwork.

And a dating show in China "You are the one " also inspire me. In the show, the woman guest has the power to turn off her light if she dislikes a man guest through the talking, which shows a measurement of the psychological distance.

Experiments

I started to have a plan to design an activity to show people's invisible social distance (in a mental way). So I prototype a tool to show the participant’s social distance from others. Each gird shows the measured distance between participants. The slide to the left means the social space is closed, while the right implies the distance becomes further. To experiment with this tool, I design two groups in different cases:

• In Group 1, I let two strangers (participants A & B) sit and talk together face-to-face for 15~20 minutes. Through communication, they can slide to any color lamp to express the peer’s impression on their mind. Every 5 minutes will show the result on the color lamp.

• And in Group 2 I let two strangers (participants C & D) have a conservation together but without face-to-face. They could not see others’ faces and only heard others’ voices when talking. The black umbrella is aimed to shade the participant’s view when talking.

During the conservation, they also need to answer these questions:

• How is your feeling?

• What do you think of others through talking?

• How do you control the location of the slide?

And here are the results of the tools shown by these participants A, B, C, and D:

And I did a new experiment with a new tool. It is the development of experiment1 as it adds the factor of physical distance to express the psychological space. Three participants A, B, and C conservation by using the megaphone without looking at each other (wearing a blinder). They have three topics, which are Drama, Delicacy, as well as Work and study, talking them throughout the discussion, and they have a chance to change the rope’s length after finishing one of the topics.

The megaphone is a practical and entertaining tool in ancient. It was invented by the Chinese while also being the prototype of the telephone. Similar to the telephone, the rope which is connecting the megaphones can transmit the participants’ voices. The roop also measures the psychological distance from each other.

For the actual distance, which participants decided, shows their close and distant relationship at first. After talking about the topic, participants can pull the roop and tie a knot to show their relationship become closer—Vice versa. And here are the moving distances for these three topics:

As a result, in the experiment, although their exacted distance is still in conformity, it eventually shows these three participants’ distances become much closer than before. The factor of stabled physical distance affects the participants to lead them to get closer generally while communicating. Therefore, psychological distance could be affected by physical distance.

Idea Processing

By understanding the result of this two experiments, I made a tool for my activity, called "Psychological ruler". It is a tape that uses elastic in place of the ruler as well as shows the relation and interaction between the physical and psychological distance.

Then I consider how people use it. And I got three thoughts on it:

1. let participants hold the ruler in the cinema when watching a movie. When they feel interested in the movie, they will start to discuss it, then turn close-- vice versa.

2. let participants hold the ruler, sitting together and watching the same video but individually with the bow cap. They will turn closer when they intend to talk about the video.

3. let participants hold the ruler, sitting back to back on a sliding bench and only one person can watch the video. If the participant sits in the back but is curious about the video, he/she will be closed to other and vice versa.

And I finally chose the third idea and modify, here is the development of this idea:

---

OUTCOME & ACTIVITY

In the activity "social distance", two participants sit on the sliding bench to watch a video. They can get closer or further during the period by sliding their seats. These interactions can measure the psychological distance as well as how physical distance effect it.

For the participants' experience:

and here are some outcomes.