Territory And Personal Space Flashcards
Territory
Areas that people lay claim to and will defend because they perceive themselves as having ownership of them.
Personal space
An invisible ‘bubble’ that surrounds us wherever we go, regulating how close we let people come to us.
Key research
Wells
Additional research
Smith - territorial behaviour on beaches
Hall - zones of personal space
Middlemist - personal space invasion in urinals
Sommer and Ross - seating arrangements in hospital waiting rooms
Background to Wells’s research; what is personalisation?
A way people in the office mark their territory is by personalisation of their desk (territorial behaviour)
Personalisation = the deliberate decoration or modification of an environment by its occupants to reflect their identities
What were the aims of Wells’s study?
Investigate differences in workplace personalisation between men and women: is it done differently and whos it more important too?
Investigate effect of personalisation on employee well being
Investigate company’s personalisation policy with organisational well being
Original number of companies Wells contacted
700
Final sample of NUMBER OF COMPANIES Wells study of those who responded + were suitable?
20 companies with at least 15 employees
What type of companies were included in Wells’s study?
air conditioning firm
car dealership
real estate agencies
Wells sample of office workers who returned the survey?
338
Where was Wells study?
Orange county, Cali, US
Outline of Wells’s main procedure
Collect data from 338 office workers via self report surveys
Follow up case studies of structured interviews
What did Wells’s self reported survey include?
Rating scales that asked about:
workplace personalisation, how
satisfaction with workplace environment and job itself
well being
personality traits
employee’s perception of organisational well being
How did Wells know which gender answered the survey?
Survey included personal demographic information
How many participants went for the follow up case study?
23 employees
15 women
8 men
Wells results: what gender personalizes more and what data shows this?
Women personalise more than men
11 items relative to men’s 7-8 items on average
Wells results: differences across genders of how personalisation occurs??
Women tend to personalise to express identities and emotions by using items that represent friends and family
Men tend to personalise with sports merchandise and items that represent achievements to show status in company
Wells results;correlation between personalisation and well being?
Strong and significant association between personalisation > work place satisfaction> job satisfaction > improved well being
What did Wells case studies qual data suggest?
Personalisation may be significantly more beneficial to womens well being than mens well being
What did wells conclude about company organisational policy?
Companies more lenient with workplace personalisation report more positive organisation of company, greater morale (well being)
Conclusion of Wells study
Personalisation differs from men to women but it will have a positive effect on improved well being/ company organisation
Problem of Wells study
Cannot generalise personalisation policies to all companies: could have a negative consequence if someone uses offensive items
Cannot assume personalisation is cause and effect: other company policies may effect???????????
Outline of Smiths additional research
A naturalistic observation in the field (a beach) on how different nationalities compete for space (territory) on the beach
What nationalities were investigated in Smiths study?
French
West German
US
Beaches in these countries
What did Smith measure in his study?
The size, depth and width of occupied space (territory) for each beach goer
number and type of territorial markers recorded
Interviews beach goers opinions
Results of Smith?
West Germans made larger territorial claims than American/French
French did not grasp concept of territoriality
How did Germans mark territory in Smith?
Used sandcastles to mark territory
Placed reserved signs on areas
Hall’s additional research
His theory of 4 zones of personal space from observation on white middle class Americans
And differences across cultures
4 zones of personal space in Hall’s theory
Public
Social
Personal
Intimate
Public zone of personal space: Hall
Allows the general public to be at this distance
Social zone of personal space: Hall
Impersonal business contacts allowed in this bubble
Personal zone of personal space: Hall
Allows contact between close friends and family
Intimate zone of personal space: Hall
For sex
Comforting someone
Physical contact sports
What cultures are contact cultures according to Hall?
Arabic, Hispanic, Mediterranean
LESS interpersonal distance
What cultures according to Hall are non contact cultures?
North European
Prefer more distance to people
Aim of Middlemist
Investigate whether personal space invasions cause uncomfortable physiological arousal among males using urinals
Where did Middlemist’s study take place?
At men’s toilet at a University
Where there were 3 urinals
Procedure of Middlemist
Participant uses a urinal
Confederate comes in and will choose a urinal depending on the condition
An observer in adjacent stall records how long P took to urinate and how long they did for
3 conditions for Middlemist
Close distance: using urinal directly next to participant
Medium distance: using urinal at the end not next to participant
Control: no confederate
What type of observation is Middlemist?
Covert observation: hidden observer in stall
Uses periscope to observe buried in pile of books (?)
Results of Middlemist
Participant took longer to start urinating and left sooner compared to rest (no shit)
Conclusions of Middlemist
Personal space invasions have physiological arousal effects:
Hard to start urinating and occurs quicker to leave
Stommer and Ross aim
Investigating effect of different seating arrangements in a hospital waiting room on stressful effect of being in hospital
Stommer and Ross: seating arrangements
Sociofugal: rows along walls facing away, people not facing each other
Sociopetal: small circular groups of chairs facing towards each other
Results of Stommer and Ross
Sociopetal (facing towards) overcomes depressing and stressful effect of hospital waiting room
Still requires maintains personal space, done by sociofugal
3 office design strategies for office to maintain territory
Allow personalisation of desks area: Wells
Allow personalisation of overall office space by purchasing desk chairs on wheels etc: Wells
Make employers aware of employees differences 8n territory across cultures: Smith
Application to design office space to encourage personal space?
Rearrange seats in a combined sociofugal and Sociopetal design to encourage personal space: Stommer and Ross
Educate employers on differences in amount of interpersonal space favoured: Hall
Design layout of desks to be at comfortable differences for employees or else uncomfortable physiological reactions: Middlemist
