On a physical level we speak of the interval of place between two elements. From the temporal point of view we indicate the space of time between two events and from the emotional perspective we talk about affective distances, for example, when we feel that someone is ‘moving away’. In psychology, there are studies that show that when something touches us ‘up close’, we pay attention to all the details and have difficulties seeing how these details fit into something larger. On the other hand, when the same thing happens to another, who is ‘far away’, we see more of the final results and the general consequences.
Lawrence E. Williams, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and John A. Bargh, a professor at Yale University are psychologists who investigate unconscious or implicit influences on social judgment, motivation, and behavior. They propose that “perceptual and motor representations of physical distance influence people’s thoughts and feelings.” They remind us that we all observe the space in search of clues to know how to feel, it is an unconscious way of assessing the situation in which we find ourselves.
If we enter a messy room (with no physical distance between objects) we do not have the same sensations as if we do it in an orderly one.
In the same way, we live immersed in a series of metaphors that condition us and that we barely perceive. For example, internally we all think that up is better than down, and we value more full than empty, and we also prefer forwards more than backwards and so on. By using the concepts of physical distance as a bridge to develop the concepts of psychological distance it is to be assumed that “distance in a broad sense should influence judgments and affective states”.
In their , Lawrence and Bragh, expose 4 clear and differentiated experiments in which there are always two groups of subjects, those who have been encouraged to distance themselves and those who have not. In one of the experiments, the volunteer subjects were asked about the strength of the , , father and siblings, and also about the place where they reside. Those who have been encouraged to feel a greater psychological distance with their environment express having weak ties and feel an emotional detachment from the world in general.
Detachment gives rise to a space of freedom and this is a type of information that is given at the unconscious level.
The authors conclude that the emotional distance influences and, at the same time, is influenced by the real distance: if something is far away it affects us less. They also tell us that “feelings of distance can moderate the emotional intensity of stimuli” and that “these effects reveal The fundamental importance of distance cues in the physical environment in shaping people’s judgments and affective experiences.
It is possible that after a ® the consultant feels that he must reorganize his living space and distance himself from someone in particular. Sometimes a person may feel that they need to distance themselves to stop doing what others expect them to do and start being what they feel they want to be. It is important to emphasize that these types of decisions are exclusive to the consultant and his way of interpreting the new information. The ® never prescribes to the client the separation of any person from her environment.
“The power of physical distance cues moderates people’s emotional experiences.”
Lawrence and Bragh.
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