Personal space
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Personal space is the region surrounding a person that effects them psychological in terms of it being their domain or territory, or about which they feel uncomfortable if entered by another.[1] The idea comes from Edward T. Hall. His ideas were influenced by Heini Hediger's studies of behavior of zoo animals.[2]
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[edit] Size
A person's comfort zone is highly variable and difficult to measure accurately: the estimates place it at about 24.5 inches (60 centimeters) on either side, 27.5 inches (70 centimeters) in front and 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) behind for an average westerner.
[edit] Variation
Personal space is highly variable. One factor in the general population density of a society with those living in a densely populated places tending to have a smaller personal space. Residents of India tend to have a smaller personal space than those in the Mongolian steppe, both in regard to home and individual. For a more detailed example, see Body contact and personal space in the United States.
Personal space has changed historically together with the boundaries of public and private in European culture since the Roman Empire. This topic have been explored in A History of Private Life, under the general editorship of Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby, published in English by the Belknap Press.
Personal space is also affected by a person's position in society with more affluent individuals demanding having a larger personal space.
People make exceptions to, and modify their space requirements. For instance in romantic encounters the stress from allowing closer personal space distances can be reinterpreted into emotional fervour.
[edit] Adaptation
According to the psychologist Robert Sommer a method of dealing with violated personal space is dehumanization. He argues that (for example) on the subway, crowded people often imagine those intruding on their personal space as inanimate. Behavior is another method: a person from India attempting to talk to someone from the Britain can often cause situations where one person steps forward to enter what they perceive as a conversational distance, and the person they are talking can step back to restore their personal space.
Another method is physical separation: some train cars are women-only, to allow women to avoid men entering their personal space, providing privacy, and safety from the possibility of being groped.
[edit] Neuropsychological space
Neuropsychology describes personal space in terms of kinds of 'near-ness' to the body.
- Extrapersonal Space: The space that occurs outside the reach of an individual.
- Peripersonal Space: The space within reach of any limb of an individual. Thus to be 'within-arm's length' is to be within one's peripersonal space.
- Pericutaneous Space: The space just outside our bodies but which might be near to touching it. Visual-tactile perceptive fields overlap in processing this space so that for example, an individual might see a feather as not touching themselves but still feel when it hovers just about their hand the inklings of being tickled .[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hall, Edward T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-08476-5.
- ^ Hediger, Heini (1955). The Psychology and Behavior of Animals in Zoos and Circuses. Dover Publications. SBN 486622185.
- ^ Elias, L.J., M.S., Saucier, (2006) Neuropsychology: Clinical and Experimental Foundations. Boston; MA. Pearson Education Inc.ISBN:0-205-34361-9
