environmental topic 6-territory and personal space Flashcards
wells research questions
-do men and women personalise their workplaces differently?
-is personalisation of work spaces associated with enhanced employee well-being?
-is a company’s personalisation policy associated with organisational well-being?
wells sample
20 out of 700 companies responded and were suitable for the student by having at least 15 office employees
all based in orange county,California and included 2 real estate agencies, an air conditioning firm and a car dealership.
surveys were given to 661 office workers and 388 were returned
23 employees from 5 of the companies were used for follow up interviews
wells procedure
self report surveys:
rating scales assessed: workplace personalisation,job satisfaction, satisfaction with physical work environment, well being, personality traits and demographics
case studies: tape recorded structured interviews 10-15mins and the workplace of the interviewee was inspected and photographed
wells results
-women personalise more than males (11 VS 8 items) and tended to use items that represented family,friends and pets whilst men personalised with symbols of their achievements and sports interests
-strong association between personalisation and job satisfaction and health
-personalisation was not significantly more important to women’s well-being according to survey data, but interviews suggested otherwise “just to look up to their faces makes it all worthwhile”
-companies who are more lenient with workplace organisation reported a more positive organisational climate,greater staff morale and less staff turnover
wells conclusion
workplace personalisation has many benefits for employees as well as employers
wells suggested that cautions should be taken when generalising results and when looking at the cause and effect nature of workplace personalisation
smith-territorial behaviour on beaches
field observation of diff nationalities (france,west germany and US) and how they compete for beach space
interviews done and size,depth and width of occupied space recorded
number+type of territorial markers was also recorded
-those from west germany made larger territorial claims than the other 2 nationalities
-the west germans also used sandcastles to make territory and even places ‘reserves’ signs on areas and states “a mans home is his castle”
-the french could not grasp the concept of territoriality
-males claimed more territory than females
hall-zones of personal space
based on observation of white,m/c, Americans hall suggested that space can be divided into 4 zones:
-intimate (0-1.5ft) for intimate contacts
-personal(1.5-4ft) for close friends or acquaintances contact
-social(4-12ft) for impersonal and business like contacts
-public(12+ft) for formal contacts between an individual and the public
hall also claimed that people from ‘contact’ cultures (e.g. Mediterranean, Hispanic, Arabic) seem to prefer less interpersonal distance than people from ‘non-contact’ cultures (e.g. north European,white american)
middlemist-personal space invasions in urinals
investigated whether personal space invasions cause (uncomfortable) physiological arousal among males
research carried out in mens toilet in american uni with 3 urinals. when men came in to urinate, a stooge would either occupy the urinal next to them (close), the urinal at the other end from them (moderate distance) or not be there (control)
another researcher sat in the adjacent stall through a periscope would time how long it took before the participant started urinating and how long they urinated for
results: at close distance the men took longer to start urinating and left sooner
conclusion: personal space invasions have physiological arousal effects
sommer and Ross- seating arrangements
they rearranged the seating in the newly decorated waiting room of a canadian hospital from sociofugal (in rows along the walls) to sociopetal (in small circular groups facing inwards) to promote social contact and overcome the depressing effect the waiting area was having on patients
