Lecture 6 - Space PDF

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CMN 122 Lecture 6 - Space (Proxemics) Functions of Space ○ Regulation of conversation ■ Functions as traffic signal, allows us to interact (or not) ■ Want to speak to them, get closer, if wish to end, then get space ○ Attitude toward another person ■ When you have a positive attitude toward someone, you are more likely to be closer to them physically ■ Skorjanc (1991) ● Subjects interacted with a confederate (Scott) who was introduced as ○ “Just finished up a jail sentence for assault with a weapon” ○ “Just finished up a jail sentence for counterfeiting money” ○ “Is an undergraduate student” ● Average distance (in seats) ○ Violent offender (3.7) ○ Nonviolent offender (3.3) ○ Student (2.5) ○ Sign of status ■ People with status have open postures, those with less are typically more closed off Three Categories of Space ○ Fixed-feature space ■ Substantial work to move it, can’t move it easily ○ Semi-fixed feature space ■ Objects are relatively easy to move ○ Informal or personal space ■ Our “bubble” Sociopetal vs Sociofugal Space ○ Sociopetal: space is organized so that it is conducive to communication between people ■ Promotes/encourages communication between people ■ We have a strong desire to do this in this environment ○ Sociofugal: space is arranged so that it produces solitude, and inhibits interaction between people ■ Does not encourage, does not mean it is not impossible, but is not an encouraged interaction ○ Examples: ■ Lounge: sociofugal ■ Living room: sociopetal ■ Seminar: sociopetal ■ Classroom: sociofugal between students, sociopetal for instructor and students ■ Study: sociofugal and sociopetal

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■ Restaurant: groupings are sociopetal, but sociofugal between each other Four Regions of Proxemics ○ Intimate: 0-18 inches ○ Personal: 1.5-4 feet ○ Social: 4-12 feet ○ Public: beyond 12 feet ■ Anyone can be in that zone without it being weird ■ Don’t really have interpersonal communication with people in public zones, more of a mass communication setting Age and Space Use ○ Unclear up to age 5 ■ Kids don’t really learn about space until age 5 or later ■ Some children will want to use a lot, others will not ○ Space increases over ages 5-17 ■ Around age 5, kids start to gain understanding and use an increasing amount of space ■ As they get older, they will use more space ○ Older people tend to like close spaces ■ When people are older, we start to see a decrease in preference for space Sex Differences in the Encoding of Space ○ Females approach others, especially other females, closer than males will ■ Men are not as comfortable being as close at approach ○ Females maintain closer interpersonal distance than males ■ After conversation has started, females are more comfortable staying close ○ Males approach other males and other females at the same distance ■ For a man to start a conversation and needs to approach, doesn’t matter if it’s a male or female, they will approach at similar distances generally ○ Females will allow others to approach more closely than males will ■ Females are more comfortable allowing others to approach them than males Culture and Space ○ No universals in space use ■ Generalizations made are about Western US cultures. Some cultures are more okay than others with close distances when communicating ○ Crowding vs. density ■ Crowding: what is considered crowding in one culture may not be in another (psychological phenomenon) ● May feel claustrophobic, individual difference based on individual’s subjective opinion ■ Density: number of people/objects occupying certain physical space (physical phenomenon) ○ Contact vs. noncontact culture

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Contact cultures are typically countries between the two tropics (closer to the equator), much more okay with close spaces, with being very close ■ Noncontact culture are typically countries outside the tropics, prefer more distance ○ Remland et al. (1995) ■ Closest: Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Greek, Italian, French ■ Furthest: English Personality and Use of Personal Space ○ Extraversion ■ Closer distances ■ As extraversion goes up, the space between goes down ○ Social anxiety ■ Further distances ■ As it increases, the space increases ○ Need for affiliation ■ High desire to be around others and to be included, people who have lots of fomo ■ High need for affiliation, want to close Decoding Space: Distance and Arousal ○ Too close → arousal ■ Getting too close causes physiological arousal seen through increase in heart rate, changes in skin conductance ■ True for both men and women ○ Changes in skin conductance ○ For females, too far also → arousal ■ For females, when people are too far away like a person looking at them from far away or being followed, can cause arousal ○ The closer the invasion, the sooner the evacuation ■ If you invade space, the closer one gets, the sooner the other one takes the opportunity to leave or create more space ■ Spacial invasions have a disruptive effect Decoding Space: Crowding ○ Correlated with density ○ Close space with strangers is more “crowding” than with friends ○ Most “crowding” with male strangers, least with female friends ■ Male stranger more likely to create perception of crowding for you, female friend least likely to create perception of crowding

Restaurant Tipping ○ Female server approached patrons at either 0.5, 1.5, or 2.5 ft ■ Server had to use all same language, same clothing, same facial expressions well trained to stand at appropriate distance

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478 customers (287 M, 191 F) ■ Customer always alone, never in groups ○ A greater % of customers in the close condition left a tip ■ Data collected was in France ■ In France, tipping is not normative, not likely ○ Customers in the close condition left higher tips than those in the other conditions ■ Overall greater % in closer conditions like ½ foot gave tips more than the further conditions ■ The closer condition left higher tips than in other conditions ■ Same for men and women in terms of size of the tip, increased with closeness ○ Social impact theory argues that there are normative pressures (to give a tip) and the pressure is increased the closer the distance Threats of Violence ○ Imagine a scenario where there was a heated argument ○ What cues would you consider suggestive of imminent violence? ■ #1: assuming a boxer’s stance ● This stance communicates that you are about to get violent ■ #2: invasion of personal space ● In context of argument, communicates you are about to get violent ■ #3: clenched hands Intimacy Equilibrium Theory (Argyle & Dean, 1965) ○ People are subject to two motivations in interpersonal interactions: ■ 1: being intimate (approach) ● Desire to be more intimate or be close with other people ■ 2: stay separate (avoid) ● Stay separate, not be too close to others ○ The balance between these two motivations is a point of equilibrium ■ We achieve this equilibrium in 4 different channels: ● Space ● Eye gaze ● Use of smiling ● The topic under discussion ○ If one person’s behavior upsets this equilibrium, the other will compensate ■ If one person’s behavior upsets the equilibrium, we will behave in a way that compensates. If someone does one of those 4 to upset the equilibrium, we will compensate in some way to bring back in the opposite way to bring self back to equilibrium. Arousal Labeling Theory (Patterson, 1976) ○ Close distance creates arousal in the decoder ○ If this arousal is labeled positively, the decoder will approach (reciprocate) ○ If this arousal is labeled negatively, the decoder will avoid (compensate) ○ Theory disagrees about sweet spot, rather thinks it is how we label the arousal

and how we behave...