4. Social and Personal Space

Question 1

Proxemics

Answer 1

study of space on how people use space when they communicate with each other.

Question 2

Social Space

Answer 2

more formal or casual interactions with acquintances, colleagues or strangers with conversation but maintains a comfortable distance that is not as intimate as personal space

Question 3

Personal Space

Answer 3

reserved for close relationships like with family and friends where a sense of privacy and comfort is important

Question 4

Types of distance

Answer 4

• Intimate Distance (0-18 inch; mainly for nonverbal communication; only intimate people; improper for public spaces)
• Personal Distance (1.5 – 5 ft; known people to us; depends on personality and communication style)
• Social Distance (generally interacting with sum1 who is not particularly well known)
• Public Distance (demands a louder voice, formal style of language and reduced speech rate)

Question 5

Crowding

Answer 5

occurs when a person perceives the number of people in the environment to be exceeding one’s preference

Question 6

Crowding vs Density

Answer 6

Crowding - experiential state in which the restrictive aspects of limited space are perceived by individuals exposed to them

Density - a physical condition involving the limitation of space (number of people per unit of space)

Question 7

territoriality

Answer 7

attempt to control space and involves mutually exclusive use of areas and objects by persons or groups

Question 8

Territorial

Answer 8

delimited space that a person or group used and defends as an exclusive preserve

Question 9

territorial behavior

Answer 9

reflects the desire to possess and occupy portions of space and defend them against intrusion by others

Question 10

types of territories

Answer 10

• Primary territories (identity of the owner is salient)
• Secondary territories (shared with others but people can establish a sense of ownership)
• public territories (tempo quality almost anyone has free access and occupancy rights but not necessarily of action)

Question 11

territorial encroachment

Answer 11

• violation (unwarranted use of or entry into a territory)
• invasion (bypassing boundaries and interrupting someone or taking over a territory)
• contamination (rendered impure with respect to its definition and usage)

Question 12

responses to territorial encroachment

Answer 12

• turf defense (response necessitated when the intruder cannot be tolerated)
• insulation (placement of a barrier between the occupants of a territory and potential invader)
• linguistic collusion (complex set of processes by which the territorial integrity of the group is reaffirmed and the intruder is labeled as an outsider)

Question 13

Privacy

Answer 13

central regulatory process by which a person or group makes himself more or less accessible and open to others

Question 14

Two aspects of diversity

Answer 14

• desired privacy (subjective statement of an ideal level of interaction with others; how much or how little contact is desired at some moment in time)
• achieved privacy (actual degree of contact that results from interaction with others)

Question 15

Properties of Privacy

Answer 15

• Interpersonal boundary-control process
• dialectic process
• optimizing process
• input and output process
• involve different types of social units

Question 16

types of privacy

Answer 16

• solitude (person is alone an free from observation by others and is in the most extreme condition of privacy)
• anonymity (“lost in a crowd” does not expect to be recognized
• intimacy (when a small group separate themselves from outsiders in order to be alone)
• reserve (creation of a psychological barrier against unwanted intrusion)

Question 17

functions of privacy

Answer 17

• personal autonomy
• self-evaluation
• emotional release
• limited and protected communication

Question 18

interactions of crowding, territoriality and privacy

Answer 18

• crowding impacts territoriality by creating a sense that personal boundaries are under threat
• Increased crowding also affects the feeling of insecurity
• when territorial boundaries feel threatened people naturally adjust their level of privacy to signal what they wish for other people to perceive