Where does proximity collide?

In Gestalt psychology, proximity is the principle that marks placed near one another are seen as belonging together, so spacing alone can make scattered elements read as a single group. Wertheimer's 1923 Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt. II listed nearness as one of the factors that organize the visual field into wholes, and Wagemans and colleagues' 2012 review A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception restated it as a grouping law and traced the evidence for it. Here proximity is a fact about how a viewer's eye parses a layout, judged by how readily nearby items fuse into one unit, and it says nothing about closeness between people or a pull between individuals.[1][2]

Unit

One perceived grouping of elements that the eye reads as belonging together by their spacing

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Tested in displays of dots or lines where spacing is varied and observers report or are timed on the groups they see

In social psychology, proximity, also called propinquity, is the finding that people who are physically near one another are more likely to become friends or partners, because nearness raises the chance of repeated contact. Bossard's 1932 Residential propinquity as a factor in marriage selection showed that spouses in Philadelphia had lived strikingly close together before marrying, and Festinger, Schachter, and Back's 1950 Social pressures in informal groups traced friendship patterns in a housing complex to who lived within a few doors. Here proximity is a driver of attraction between individuals, measured in feet or doorways between residences, and it is not a rule about how the eye groups marks or a bond an infant keeps with a caregiver.[3][4]

Unit

One relationship formed between people, scaled by the physical or functional distance separating them

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed by correlating distance between residences or workspaces with rates of friendship, marriage, or contact

In developmental psychology, proximity seeking is the infant's drive to stay close to a caregiver and to restore that closeness when it is threatened, the behavior at the center of attachment. Bowlby's 1958 The nature of the child's tie to his mother proposed that crying, clinging, and following are instinctive acts that keep the child near a protector, and Ainsworth and Bell's 1970 Attachment, exploration, and separation measured such proximity-keeping directly by watching one-year-olds reunite with a parent in a strange room. Here proximity is a goal an infant actively works to maintain toward one person, gauged by approach and contact after separation, and it differs from nearness that groups marks in a display or nearness that draws two adults together.[5][6]

Unit

One instance of an infant seeking or restoring closeness to a specific caregiver

Recovery means

Reestablished when the child regains contact and settles after a separation or a fright

Measured by

Coded from observed approach, following, and contact behaviors, as in reunion episodes of the Strange Situation