A Study On The Influence Of Politeness On College Students’ Sense Of Interpersonal Distance Perception

Politeness is an important norm in interpersonal communication and a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation.Interpersonal distance perception refers to the distance that an individual perceives in his relationship with others,that is,whether he is close to or estranged from others.At present,existing studies have theoretically explored the relationship between politeness and interpersonal distance perception.The research believes that there is an interaction between politeness and interpersonal distance perception.The closer the interpersonal distance between the two parties,the lower the requirements for politeness;the higher the level of politeness,the greater the perceived interpersonal distance between the communicators.On this basis,some scholars have conducted empirical research on the relationship between politeness and interpersonal distance perception,but most of the empirical research focuses on the influence of interpersonal distance perception on politeness,and pays less attention to the influence of politeness on interpersonal distance perception.Based on this,this paper takes Chinese college students as the research object,and uses interview and experimental methods to explore the influence of politeness on interpersonal distance perception,to help college students realize the role of politeness in different stages of interpersonal communication,and to guide college students to adjust politeness appropriately to improve interpersonal relationships,and promote interpersonal communication.This paper includes three studies.In the first study,14 college students were interviewed by semi-structured interview method to explore the understanding and views of modern college students on politeness and the relationship between politeness and interpersonal distance perception.In study 2,based on the interview data and relevant literature of study 1,we designed situational imagination materials involving politeness in interpersonal interaction.120 college students were randomly selected to conduct a situational imagination experiment to investigate the influence of politeness and extraverted personality traits on the perceived interpersonal distance of college students.Study 3conducted a single-category implicit association test on 70 college students to explore whether there is an implicit connection between politeness and interpersonal distance perception.The following conclusions were drawn from this study:(1)Contemporary college students believe that politeness is a quality and self-cultivation of an individual,and it is also an impression management strategy,which can be expressed through the individual’s words and deeds.Proper politeness can make people feel comfortable and enhance the willingness to communicate further with your communication partner;while a higher degree of politeness can make people have negative feelings such as unreality,a sense of boundary,and a sense of distance,which may lead to alienation of interpersonal relationships.(2)Politeness and extraverted personality traits both have significant effects on interpersonal distance perception.The more polite the communication partner is,the farther the interpersonal distance will be experienced by college students,and the college students with low extraverted personality trait will experience greater interpersonal distance than those with high extraverted personality trait.The interactive effect of politeness and extraverted personality traits on the interpersonal distance experienced by college students was not significant.(3)Politeness and interpersonal distance perception have implicit connection effect.Compared with the sense of close interpersonal distance,college students are more likely to connect politeness with the sense of far interpersonal distance,that is,politeness will make people experience far interpersonal distance rather than close interpersonal distance.