Multiple studies of human behavior under artificial closed environment

Research Project

Project/Area Number	58410003
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (A)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Psychology
Research Institution	Hiroshima University
Principal Investigator	SUGIMOTO Sukeo 広島大学, 総科, 教授 (60023644)
Project Period (FY)	1983 – 1985
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1985)
Budget Amount *help	¥17,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥17,900,000) Fiscal Year 1985: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000) Fiscal Year 1984: ¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000) Fiscal Year 1983: ¥15,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥15,000,000)
Keywords	Sensory restriction environment / Interpersonal relationship / ウルトラディアンリズム
Research Abstract	The study carried out in 1985 concerns the developmental processes of interpersonal relationship in isolated small groups. Two or three male-student groups who were not aquainted with each other before the experiment were confined for 8 hours in the isolated chamber. Their interactive behaviors were monitered, polygraphical recordings were continuously obtained throughout the experiment. And the check list of interpersonal impression let them fill every two hours. In pairs groups, the personal familiality increased as time in confinment progressed. The peak of interaction occurred at one hour and half or two hours later after isolation. The temporal behavior of the speech act frequency showed the remarkable cyclic changes with the periods of 90-120 min. Palmar skin potential response (SPR) showed more clear ultradian rhythmic aspects whose periods were in the range of 90-150 min. The condition of confinment is seemed to enforce the personal interaction between paired two subjects. The speech act frequency and the SPR score were almost parrallel between the paired subjects even in early stages of the isolation. This suggests that the interpersonal harmonaization phenomena start to develop from early stages of the isolation and synchronize the ultradian rhythms of each pair of the subjects. In three men groups, however, the confinment environment worked as negative function to interpersonal interaction. The speech act frequency among subjects decreased and individual behavior increased in the time course of isolation. The great differences in development of interpersonal relationship between two and three men groups in confinment condition were found in this experiment.