Physical Distance and AIDS: Too Close for Comfort?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess attitudes toward AIDS as measured by physical distance. Fifty-two female students were told that they would be interviewing an AIDS patient, a homosexual, a cancer patient, or another student. While waiting, they arranged the two chairs for the interview. The distance between chairs was measured. Subjects placed the chairs significantly farther apart when they anticipated interviewing an AIDS patient than when they anticipated interviewing people under the other conditions. The results suggest that people are still uncomfortable with AIDS patients even under casual circumstances that require minimal physical contact. Implications for social interactions are discussed.

Department

Psychology

Publication Date

9-1992

Journal Title

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Publisher

Wiley

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1111/j.1559-1816.1992.tb00959.x

Document Type

Article

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