School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 25;14(1):4568. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-55218-y.
Since COVID-19 is easily transmitted among people in close physical proximity, the focus of epidemiological policy during the COVID-19 crisis included major restrictions on interpersonal distance. However, the way in which distance restrictions affected spatial perception is unclear. In the current study, we examined interpersonal distance preferences and perceptions at three time points: pre-pandemic, early post-pandemic, and late post-pandemic. The results indicate that following the pandemic outbreak, people perceived others as farther away than they actually were, suggesting that the distance restrictions were associated with an enlargement of perceived interpersonal distance. Interestingly, however, people maintained the same distance from one another as before the outbreak, indicating no change in actual distance behavior due to the risk of infection. These findings suggest that COVID-19 was associated with a change in the way distance is perceived, while in practice, people maintain the same distance as before. In contrast, COVID-related anxiety predicted both a preference for maintaining a greater distance and a bias toward underestimating perceived distance from others. Thus, individuals who were highly fearful of COVID-19 perceived other people to be closer than they actually were and preferred to maintain a larger distance from them. The results suggest that subjective risk can lead to an increased perception of danger and a subsequent change in behavior. Taken together, even when behaviors should logically change, the decision-making process can be based on distorted perceptions. This insight may be used to predict public compliance.
由于 COVID-19 在近距离接触的人群中很容易传播，因此 COVID-19 危机期间的流行病学政策重点包括对人际距离的重大限制。然而，距离限制如何影响空间感知尚不清楚。在当前的研究中，我们在三个时间点检查了人际距离偏好和感知：大流行前、大流行后早期和大流行后晚期。结果表明，大流行爆发后，人们认为他人比实际距离更远，这表明距离限制与感知人际距离的扩大有关。有趣的是，然而，人们彼此之间的距离与爆发前相同，这表明由于感染的风险，实际的距离行为没有变化。这些发现表明，COVID-19 与距离感知方式的改变有关，而在实践中，人们保持与以前相同的距离。相比之下，与 COVID 相关的焦虑预测了保持更大距离的偏好和低估与他人感知距离的偏见。因此，对 COVID-19 高度恐惧的个体将他人感知为比实际距离更近，并倾向于与他们保持更大的距离。结果表明，主观风险会导致对危险的感知增加，并随后改变行为。总之，即使行为应该逻辑上发生变化，决策过程也可能基于扭曲的感知。这种洞察力可用于预测公众的合规性。
