Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 4; p. e0231539
• Main Authors: Welsch, Robin, von Castell, Christoph, Rettenberger, Martin, Turner, Daniel, Hecht, Heiko, Fromberger, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 21.04.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Attraction; Attractiveness; Avoidance; Avoidance behavior; Avoidance Learning; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Experiments; Female; Humans; Influence; Inter-male aggression; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Males; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Motor Activity; Neurophysiology; Novels; Pelodiscus sinensis; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Psychological conflict; Psychological research; Psychology; Reaction Time; Reaction time task; Research and Analysis Methods; Sex; Sexual attraction; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual identity; Sexual orientation; Social Behavior; Social distance; Social factors; Social interaction; Social Sciences; Spatial Behavior; Time; Velocity; Virtual environments; Virtual Reality; Visual Perception; Young Adult; United States; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231539

How does sexual attraction alter social interaction behavior? We examined the influence of sexual orientation on locomotor approach-avoidance behavior and interpersonal distance. We immersed androphilic and gynophilic male subjects into a virtual environment and presented various male and female virtual persons. In the first experiment, subjects took a step forward (approach) or backward (avoidance) in response to the sex of the virtual person. We measured reaction time, peak velocity, and step size, and obtained ratings of sexual attractiveness in every trial. In the second experiment, subjects had to approach the virtual person as if they were to engage in a social interaction. Here, we analyzed interpersonal distance and peak velocity of the approaches. Our results suggest that sexual attraction facilitates the approach response and reduces the preferred interpersonal distance. We discuss our findings in terms of proxemics, current findings in sex research, and the applicability of our novel task in other fields of psychological research.