Departure Latency to Invasion of Personal Space: Effects of Status and Sex

Abstract

A field experiment examined the effects of status and sex on the invasion of the personal space of 480 adults of various ages sitting in a suburban shopping, mall. Male or female confederates sat next to male or female subjects (at a distance of 45 cm) under one of three status conditions: low (college student), high (business person), or religious (Catholic clergy). Women, but not men, had shorter latencies of departure when their space was invaded by low-status intruders relative to high- and religious-status intruders (there being no difference between the latter two conditions).