Social support and the perception of geographical slant

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Abstract

The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as physical fitness, age, and being physically refreshed. In two studies we tested whether a psychosocial resource, social support, can also affect the visual perception of slants. Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone (Study 1). Similarly, participants who thought of a supportive friend during an imagery task saw a hill as less steep than participants who either thought of a neutral person or a disliked person (Study 2). In both studies, the effects of social relationships on visual perception appear to be mediated by relationship quality (i.e., relationship duration, interpersonal closeness, warmth). Artifacts such as mood, social desirability, and social facilitation did not account for these effects. This research demonstrates that an interpersonal phenomenon, social support, can influence visual perception.

Introduction

The visual perception of the physical world is influenced by the physical demands associated with intended actions. For example, the conscious perception of hill slants and of walking distances is influenced by whether the perceiver is wearing a heavy backpack (Proffitt, Stefanucci, Banton, & Epstein, 2003), is young or old (Bhalla & Proffitt, 1999), is fatigued (Proffitt, Bhalla, Gossweiler, & Midgett, 1995), or has action goals in mind (Witt, Proffitt, & Epstein, 2004). These physical states influence perception because they are relevant to anticipated action: a hill is harder to climb for elderly or fatigued persons, and thus appears to be steeper to them.

Perception of the physical world is therefore not determined solely by the objective features of the environment as specified by perceptual and sensorimotor variables, but is also shaped by the perceiver’s capacity to purposefully negotiate physical space. When physical resources are depleted (due to age, fatigue, etc.) hills appear steeper and distances appear greater (Bhalla and Proffitt, 1999, Proffitt et al., 2003). Perception therefore functions within a behavioral “economy of action” (Proffitt, 2006). To promote energetic efficiency, perception relates spatial contexts (e.g., heights, distances, gradients) to both the physical demands these contexts present and to the perceiver’s physical state. Thus, as the energetic demands of ascending hills and walking distances increase (due to a perceiver’s depleted physical resources), the perception of their incline and extent is amplified.

Do psychosocial resources, such as social support, moderate visual perception of the physical world as do physiological resources? If so, then the physical world should appear less challenging when psychosocial resources are bolstered, and more challenging when they are depleted. In particular, hills should appear less steep when a psychosocial resource is available than when it is not. The present research tested this prediction, focusing on social support as the psychosocial resource. There are two aspects of social support that bolster this prediction. One is that support powerfully affects physiological responses to challenges, and another is that support moderates how challenges are evaluated.

The notion that social support serves to physically unburden people is well established. The mere presence of another person can be beneficial, especially if this person provides support in a nonevaluative and nondirective manner (Harber et al., 2005, Kamarck et al., 1990). According to the buffering hypothesis (e.g., Thoits, 1986), social support promotes health by reducing physical reactivity to stress, and is therefore protective against stress-related illnesses ranging from the common cold (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper, & Skoner, 2003) to heart disease (Seeman & Syme, 1987) to cancer (Fawzy et al., 1993).

Social support also alleviates proximal stressors. For example, the cardiac stress reaction created by challenging mental arithmetic tasks is smaller when a person is accompanied by a supportive other than when alone (Kamarck et al., 1990). The presence of a pet reduces cardiovascular reactivity while performing a stressful task, presumably because pets are especially nonevaluative companions (Allen, Blascovich, Tomaka, & Kelsey, 1991). The presence of conspecifics decreases stress reactions in non-humans, including rats (Davitz and Mason, 1955, Latané, 1969), guinea pigs (Hennessey, O’Leary, Hawke, & Wilson, 2002), and monkeys (Gust, Gordon, Brodie, & McClure, 1994). In sum, social support appears to “lighten the load” that individuals physically incur when facing challenging situations.

It is critical to note, however, that the benefits of social support often derive from the psychological benefits (e.g., increased feelings of competence, belongingness, efficacy, and control) rather than direct instrumental assistance from the support source. Thus, support sources did not provide solutions to mental arithmetic tasks in Kamarck et al. (1990), nor did they supply medical assistance to those exposed to cold viruses in Cohen et al. (2003). Instead, support sources in these and related studies appear to change copers’ “secondary appraisal” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) of their own internal coping capacities.

People tend to amplify their perception of negatively-arousing objects and situations (Easterbrook, 1959). For example, spiders are seen as looming closer by spider phobics (Riskind, Moore, & Bowley, 1995), time passes more slowly for newly-abstinent smokers (Klein, Corwin, & Stine, 2003), physical pain increases with pain-related anxiety (Rhudy & Meager, 2000), and disturbing objects appear physically closer than do non-disturbing objects (Matthews & Mackintosh, 2004).

If challenging objects and situations are perceptually amplified because they are negatively arousing, and if resources reduce arousal, then the perception of challenging things should be moderated when resources are bolstered. Following this logic, Harber and associates have explored the role of social support and other resources in the perception of challenging stimuli. When social support was bolstered, physical pain was perceived as less intense (Harber & Wenberg, in preparation; see also Brown, Sheffield, Leary, & Robinson, 2003), and infant cries were perceived as conveying less distress (Harber, Jussim, Kennedy, Freyberg, & Baum, 2008). These effects were moderated by support-related attributes such as feeling close to the support source.

Do psychosocial resources similarly affect the manner in which the physical world is perceived? Specifically, would a physical challenge be visually perceived as more extreme under conditions of minimal or negative social support, but less extreme under conditions of positive social support? The present research was designed to test whether such shifts in visual perception would occur. Two studies employed the same judgment task—estimating the slant of a hill—that past perceptual research showed to be affected by physical burdens (Proffitt et al., 1995). If psychosocial resources, like physical resources, influence perception, then judgments of hill slant under conditions of increased social support should be less extreme than judgments made under conditions of no support (Study 1) and under conditions of depleted support (Study 2).

Section snippets

Study 1

Study 1 is the first study to examine whether psychosocial resources moderate vision in the same manner as physical resources. Whereas Proffitt’s earlier research showed that people who enjoy the physical resources of being rested, in shape, or young saw hill slopes as less steep, Study 1 predicted that people who enjoy the psychosocial resources of being with a friendly acquaintance (compared to those alone) will similarly see hills as less steep. It did so using a quasi-experimental design

Study 2

Study 1 provided initial evidence that social support affects the perception of hill slant. However, several questions remained. First, it was not clear whether participants’ friends represented a purely psychological resource (e.g., boosting morale), or instead a potentially instrumental one (e.g., they could physically assist the climb). Also, the friend may have simply produced social facilitation effects, wherein performance on non-complex tasks improves by being done in the presence of

General discussion

Two studies provided evidence that psychosocial resources moderate the perception of the physical world. These results are strikingly similar to previous research showing that physiological resources moderate spatial perception. Just as physical load, bodily fatigue, and the age and fitness of the perceiver moderate slant perception (Bhalla and Proffitt, 1999, Proffitt et al., 1995), so does the presence and quality of supportive relationships. Social support changed the perception of a

Conclusion

Past research has shown that perceivers’ physical states affect their perception of the physical environment. The current studies show that perceivers’ psychosocial states also influence how the physical environment is perceived. It is too early to speculate on the degree to which these influences share common underlying mechanisms or on what these mechanisms might be. Recent research, however, has begun to look at other bodily influences on visual perception and the results are quite striking.

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. BCS 0518835.

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