Personal Space & Social Interaction

Starkey (1969) defined personal space as the physical space immediately around the body and noted that people often treat this space as if it were part of the body. Further, there appears to be an equilibrium level of physical proximity. In general, communicating persons 2 feet apart tend to increase the distance, but those 10 feet apart tend to decrease it.

In other words, people have preferred distances for social interaction depending upon who they are with and in what activity they are engaged. And, as noted by Starkey (1969), they will engage in a variety of behaviors designed to maintain that amount of personal space with which they feel comfortable.

This paper examines the various non-verbal communications people use to regulate their personal space. This examination is followed by a brief summary of the reviewed material. The third and final section of the report provides a real-life application in which people are observed as they attempt to regulate their personal space.

Nonverbal Behaviors Used To Regulate Personal Space

Worchel (1986) reports that the primary way in which people regulate personal space is by choosing the amount of distance they desire between themselves and another with whom they are interacting, with some people desiring more distance than others. However, Worchel (1986) notes that the distances people choose can and will vary depending upon a variety of factors.

These factors include: (1) the amount of social isolati

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es to the counseling process. While this study is not directly related to how people in general regulate personal space, it provides some insight into the affective dimension underlying the use of regulatory nonverbal behaviors. In this regard, Brown and Parks (1972) state that the existing research indicates that the optimum use of eye contact with the counselee is regarded as a plus factor except when the counselee discusses himself in a negative fashion. . It is also reported that the number of gestures (gestures include smiles, positive and negative head-nods, gesticulation, and self-manipulations) increases during periods of high tension. It is further noted that a person who is in a depressed mood will frequently expressed this by increased leg movements. One final point that must be made regarding the regulation of personal space is that all of the behaviors associated with this regulation have been found to vary in conjunction with several factors. These factors include: the sex of the interactants (Buller, 1987); the setting in which the invasion/intrusion of personal space is occurring and the status of the invader (Le Poire, Burgoon & Parrott, 1992); and the density level of the surrounding environment (Harris, Lugi

Category: Psychology - P