Abstract
Interpersonal space (IPS) defines the personal boundary within which social interactions feel comfortable. It flexibly adjusts, shrinking with familiar faces and expanding with strangers. Previous studies suggest environmental temperature could influence IPS, as warmth may be linked to comfort and cold to exclusion, though direct evidence is limited.
We investigated this hypothesis by combining Virtual Reality (VR) with climate chambers. Participants (N = 60; 50% female) were immersed in a virtual room with a human avatar. They approached the avatar, first stopping at a comfortable distance (IPS), then moving closer until discomfort arose (IPS permeability). Each completed 48 trials across three temperature conditions: cold (8 °C or 18 °C), neutral (24 °C), and hot (28 °C or 38 °C). Half experienced mild temperatures (18 °C, 24 °C, 28 °C), and half experienced extreme ones (8 °C, 24 °C, 38 °C).
Generalized linear mixed models showed weak temperature effects, with a trend for women to contract IPS in warmth and expand it in cold (p = 0.08), while men showed the opposite. However, stronger effects emerged for participants and avatar’s gender. Women showed shorter IPSs than men (p < 0.001), and all participants stood closer to female avatars than male ones (p < 0.001). IPS and permeability also decreased over time (p = 0.003; p = 0.006), suggesting growing familiarity.
These findings indicate that gender and familiarity play a greater role in shaping IPS than temperature, even under extreme conditions—challenging common assumptions that temperature influences social distance.