Environmental - Territory and personal space Flashcards
1
Q
Personal space (Background)
A
- The proximity an individual feels comfortable with in relation to another individual
- Personal space parameters can differ according to factors such as: age, relationship w others, culture, personality etc.
- Maintaining personal space allows an individual to avoid discomfort, stress and anxiety and reduce arousal
2
Q
Sorokowska et al. (2017) - Cross-cultural personal space (Application)
A
- Different countries have different perceptions of personal space
- Romania, Saudi Arabia and Hungary reported the greatest need for personal space (around 140cm)
- Argentina, Bulgaria and Peru reported the least need for personal space (around 80cm)
- Results showed ps were happier for a friend to get closer to them during conversation with little difference across countries
- Intimate relations had different levels of space with Norwegians having the closest proximity and Romanians having the furthest (50cm to 40cm respectively)
3
Q
Hall (1963) - 4 zones of personal space (Background)
A
- Intimate distance (45cm): used in intimate relationships e.g. loved ones
- Personal distance/friend zone (up to 1.2m): used in situations where close friends meet
- Social distance (up to 3.7m): used in situations where you encounter businesslike contacts
- Public distance/audience zone (more than 12ft): used for formal contact e.g. meeting a public figure
4
Q
Territory (Application)
A
- A particular location, one with visible boundaries that are relatively stable and (in some way) owned by somoene
- Territory can be permanent e.g. someone’s home with visible fence markers, or temporary such as an employee’s desk in the workplace
- Ownership might be displayed by leaving personal belongings in a designated place someone has claimed as theirs
5
Q
Becker (1973) - Territory in a library (Background)
A
- Investigated territorial behaviour in a library and found that those entering the library were least likely to invade another’s territory when the person was present at their table
- People were also unlikely to sit at tables when personal possessions such as books and clothing had been left at the table
- Leaving items at table seems to represent markers of temporary ownership
6
Q
Brill et al. - Workplace personalisation
A
- Found personalisation of workplace is associated with satisfaction with the physical work environment and job satisfaction
7
Q
Wells - Hypotheses
A
- Men and women will personalise their office space differently
- Personalisation of desks will be positively associated with employee wellbeing
- Workspace personalisation will be more integral to the wellbeing of women than to that of men
- Companies which are more lenient on personalisation will report higher levels of organisational wellbeing
8
Q
Wells - Method
A
- Self report in form of employee survey and coordinator survey
- Observations and photographs were taken of workstations
- Case study into 23 individuals’ desks
9
Q
Wells - Sample
A
- Office workers from 20 small businesses in Orange County, California
- Volunteer sampling
- 661 surveys distributed with 51% response rate
10
Q
Wells - Procedure
A
6 sections:
1. Workplace personalisation - asked about things such as personal items displayed, types of items displayed, reasons for personalisation
2. Satisfaction with physical work environment (5 point scale)
3. Job satisfaction (5 point scale)
4. Wellbeing - general, physical and psychological wellbeing
5. Employee perceptions of organisational wellbeing including social climate of workplace
6. Personality - assessed traits such as need for affiliation, privacy and creativity
11
Q
Wells - Results
A
- Women personalise to express their identity and emotions whereas men use it to show status
- Women display more items than men (11.2 vs 7.68 average items)
- Personalisation was more important to women for general wellbeing
- Personalisation of workspaces is significantly associated with satisfaction of work environment
- Companies that allow more personalisation have a more positive organisational climate
12
Q
Wells - Conclusions
A
- Men and women personalise their workspaces differently
- Employee wellbeing and satisfaction with physical work is enhanced if individuals are allowed to pesronalise their workspace
- Workplace organisational climate and social climate have significant implications for employee wellbeing
- Companies who are more lenient w personalisation have greater levels of organisational wellbeing, employee morale and lower staff turnover
13
Q
Tajadura-Jimenez et al. - Listening to music (Application)
A
- Investigated how using an iPod can create a sense of personal space
- Used standard personal space experiment set-up where ps were asked to walk towards an unfamiliar experimenter until they felt uncomfortable
- Found listening to music group had a reduced sense of personal space so were able to get closer to the experimenter before feeling uncomfortable
- Therefore companies with minimal personal space to offer employees could adopt this technique
14
Q
Treadmill Desking (Application)
A
- Exercise helps release endorphins which increases overall mood
- Labonte-LeMoyne et al. (2015) found that 9 students who read a text on a treadmill desk performed significantly better than a control group in a memory performance task and reported better concentration levels
15
Q
Evaluation - Validity
A
- Hall’s zones of personal space - lacks internal validity due to everyone having different perceptions of their own zones of personal space
- Becker et al - high ecological validity due to observation being done in library so natural behaviours would’ve been shown
- Wells - internal validity may be lacking due to using subjective research methods i.e. self report
- Wells - found that males responded differently in questionnaire than in interview; response bias
- Wells - less population validity as only conducted in America
- Wells - high ecological validity due to observations being done within the workplace
- Labonte-LeMoyne et al - low ecological validity due to unnatural nature of having a treadmill desk (if you aren’t already used to it)
