PROXEMICS

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PROXEMICS

• NONVERBAL
• COMMUNICATION

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CONCEPTUALIZATION TIME

• Looking for synchrony
• developmental levels
• environment
• appearance
• Look for immediacy impact
• Search for equilibrium
• Look for power uses users
• Combinations determine the proxemic behavior

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What we are looking for.

• How do the proxemic elements of the situation
  determine, or impact on, the communication of the
  participants?

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PROXEMICS DEFINED

• TERRITORY
• That to which we lay claim
• PERSONAL SPACE
• That which we carry with us

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TERRITORIALITY

• PRIMARY
• Exclusive to owner
• Central to daily functioning
• Why the woman called about the young men coming
  to her door
• Guard against intruders
• Can also include possessions

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TERRITORIALITY, CONT.

• SECONDARY
• not exclusive
• magazine you are reading, TV you are watching
• PUBLIC
• available to almost anyone for temporary ownership

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CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCE

• Expected distance in a given conversation is a
  function of the social norms combined with
  idiosyncratic patterns of the individuals
• PERSONAL SPACE
• That which we carry with us
• The magic bubble
• Approx. 16-18

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CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCES

Intimate lt16-18
Personal 18 to 4 feet
Social--4 ft to 12 ft
Public gt 12 ft.
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DEVELOPMENT

• First 3 years
• Issues of territory
• 3-5 years
• Both territory and personal space
• Develop interaction distance, until around 3rd
  grade
• sex role issues

• PROXEMICS

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USES OF TERRITORY

• Coordinate activities
• courtship, resting and feeding
• propagation
• hold group together
• Regulate density
• Provide hiding places

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TYPES OF INTRUSION

• VIOLATION
• unwarranted use
• looking at someone when it is not accepted, or
  expected
• INVASION,
• attempt to take over anothers territory
• CONTAMINATION
• what we leave behind

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TERRITORIAL DEFENSE

• PREVENTION
• post guard
• boundaries
• REACTION
• hostile to mild
• dependent upon type

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Reactions depend on

• WHO
• WHAT
• WHEN
• HOW
• WHY
• WHERE

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REACTIONS

• PHYSIOLOGICAL
• increased heart rate and blood pressure
• ANXIETY CUES
• avoid gaze, body blocking, build barriers,
  non-person orientation
• INTERACTION AVOIDANCE
• withdrawal or flight

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• DECREASED TASK PERFORMANCE
• lower scores on tasks, shoppers feel they do less
  well
• PERCEIVED DISCOMFORT AND CROWDING
• more uneasiness, discomfort and feeling of
  crowding
• VERBAL RESPONSE
• more verbal aggressiveness, less affiliativeness
• caused even by the expectation of crowding

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RUSSOS LIBRARY STUDY

• Quick flight--sat next
• 70 moved within 30 minutes
• Position?
• Posture?
• Gestures?
• Dearth of verbal responses

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DENSITY AND CROWDING

• DENSITY
• refers to number of people per unit of space
• CROWDING
• a feeling state that may develop in high or low
  density situations
• DETERMINED BY
• environmental, personal and social factors

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CALHOUNS STUDY

• Some rats withdrew
• Problems with nesting patterns
• Disrupted courtship patterns, did not stay with
  one partner
• Litters became mixed
• Miscarriages increased
• Aggressive behavior increased

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NEW YORK SUBWAY-RULES

• Seated passengers may not be challenged or
  deprived of their seats except....
• A standee may request for someone to move over.
  Probability increases as....
• Requests are successful if others affected give
  their assent and if there is an explicit request

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SUBWAY-FINDINGS

• Seat possession tends to be maintained for
  duration
• Not so with standing
• Little verbal interaction
• Territorial defense--seem unaware of the
  intruder, less eye gaze
• As density increases, territorial defense becomes
  more pronounced

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Findings--cont.

• Personal distance decreases markedly as density
  increases. Prohibitions against physical contact
  are lifted.
• Key strategy--avoid eye contact.
• In low and medium density situation, most
  passengers engage in territorial and personal
  distancing behavior.

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GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

• Increased density does not automatically increase
  stress or antisocial behaviors
• If we take the responsibility for density (choose
  to attend) effects are minimal.
• Or, we can blame!

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Coping with density

• Less time with each input
• shorter conversations
• Disregard low-priority input
• ignore drunk on sidewalk
• Shift responsibility to others
• bus drivers cannot make change
• Block inputs
• answering machine, doorman restricts
• Restrict eye contact

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CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCE

• Expected distance in a given conversation is a
  function of the social norms combined with
  idiosyncratic patterns of the individuals
• PERSONAL SPACE
• That which we carry with us
• The magic bubble
• Approx. 16-18

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IMPACTING VARIABLES

• AGE
• Younger and older are closer in distance
• Tend to be closer to our own age group
• May be related to attractiveness
• Concept of learning the social norms

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• GENDER
• All tend to be closer to women
• MF then FF then MM
• Tend to be closer to our peers
• CULTUREcareful!!!!
• Contact--Arabs, Latin Americans, Southern
  Europeans
• Non-contact--N. Americans, N. Europeans, Asians,
  Indians and Pakistanis
• Latin America--middle class tends to have a
  greater spatial distance than lower class

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• TOPIC OR SUBJECT MATTER
• shifts mark segments of the encounter
• beginning, endings, topic changes
• SETTING
• room size increases....
• PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• greater distance with handicapped
• decreases over time
• PERSONALITY
• Anxiety increased distance
• High self-esteem decreases distance

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• ATTITUDINAL AND EMOTIONAL ORIENTATION
• unfriendlygreater distance
• angerwithdrawal retaliationcloser
• INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
• Closer allowing people seen as warmer, liking
  each other more, more empathic higher level of
  immediacy
• Seeking approvalcloser
• Status discrepancy
• Becomes issues of synchrony, immediacy and
  equilibrium

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SPATIAL ARRANGEMENTS

• Dominance/leadership
• end of table
• middlesocio-emotional
• eye gaze, head position
• Task
• cooperativeside by side
• access for competition
• relationship topic
• Arrangement is an issue of task, style of
  leadership and interpersonal factors