Problems With Proxemics

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The Problems of Proxemics
by Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway
© Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved

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North American executives who travel internationally often complain about how closely people stand next to them in some countries. To the average U.S. citizen, Latin Americans often seem to stand too close for comfort. And in the Middle East, people get "right up in your face," as one executive said.

This discomfort is natural. We are territorial creatures. All of us have a "personal space," an area around our bodies that we consider our own. When someone invades that space without our consent, we become uncomfortable, hostile, or at the least, confused about what the close proximity means. We immediately try to adjust our position to regain our comfort zone.

Since the 1960s sociologists have been studying how far we stand apart and other aspects of how we use space. The pioneer in this field, sociologist Edward T. Hall, calls this area of research proxemics, which he defines as the study of people's use of space as a function of culture. Proxemics includes not only personal distances, but also the unstated rules for laying out houses and towns.

After studying thousands of films on how people interact, Hall concluded that we maintain our personal space with tremendous accuracy -- to tolerances as small as a fraction of an inch. The appropriate conversational distance varies from culture to culture. Because we make minute adjustments to our personal comfort zones when speaking to people from our own culture, it is not surprising that we often make larger adjustments when dealing with people from different cultures. Foreigners aren't playing by the same (cultural) rules, yet most of us act as if they should.

Hall also discovered that most North Americans made adjustments in conversational distances unconsciously. In normal conversational situations, we adjust to a comfortable distance without thinking about it. When abroad, we sometimes do the same thing. In a culture with a closer conversational space than is common in the U.S., the result is this: The foreigner approaches too close, and the U.S. citizen unconsciously backs up. Then the foreigner unwittingly closes up the space, whereupon the visitor from the U.S. backs up again. It's not uncommon to see conversants doing this over and over, until something (a wall, chair, desk, etc.) prevents the U.S. visitor from backing up further.

U.S. citizens sometimes adopt strategies to keep others at a comfortable distance. They sit behind desks or stand behind an obstacle, such as a chair or coffee table, to establish a barrier. This doesn't always work; the foreign national may try to get around the obstacle until he or she reaches the appropriate conversational distance for the local culture. But even if it does work, the foreign counterpart is now uncomfortable. If you're trying to make a good impression, this is not the way to do it.

Ultimately, the only solution for a traveler is to adopt the conversational space appropriate to the local culture. In North America and Northern Europe, businesspeople usually stand close enough to shake hands, about 2 1/2 to three feet apart. In parts of Southern Europe and most of Latin America, the distance tends to be closer. In the Middle East, it is closer yet, sometimes under one foot.

In other parts of the world, conversational space is larger than is customary in the U.S. Some Asians prefer a larger distance than North Americans. Because people who bow need at least three feet between them to avoid knocking heads, this is understandable. In Asia, North Americans can be perceived as getting too close.

Of course, the appropriate distance between people varies with the situation. In a loud environment, people need to stand closer just to be heard. People also adapt to crowded situations. The same Japanese who maintain four-foot distances allow themselves to be crammed into subway cars so jammed that fights would break out if the car was full of New Yorkers.

The study of proxemics involves other issues of interest to businesspeople. In addition to charting conversational distances, proxemics researchers study the layout and design of the spaces in which we live.

In North America more people live alone than anywhere else in the world. Elsewhere, extended families are the norm. North American families are also likely to have more rooms in their dwellings. Each child often has his or her own room -- something that other cultures find not only unusual but undesirable. In Japan, for example, families spend most of their time at home together in the same room. When larger, American-style houses were built in Japan, family members were able to retreat to separate rooms. This trend was seen as very un-Japanese, and was blamed for all sorts of social ills. The same accusations have been raised in China, where larger houses are just now being built. Indeed, the very word for privacy in Chinese ("yin si") has a pejorative connotation. (Foreign visitors in Chinese hotels are often warned to be undressed only in the bathroom because service personnel may enter one's rooms at any time.) A builder who wants to bring foreign-style housing to a new country must consider whether or not the native population wants those sorts of homes.

Another aspect of growing up in crowded environments is the unwillingness to be alone in public. In much of Asia, people gravitate towards other people. For example, if you are alone in an elevator in the Philippines and another person enters, he will probably stand right next to you. That person doesn't want to speak to you; it's just the local custom. If you are sitting in an Indian movie theater surrounded by empty seats and an Indian enters, he is likely to sit next to you. And in Indonesia, if you are standing on a virtually empty escalator, an Indonesian may walk down until he is standing on the same step as you. This sort of behavior often drives North Americans to distraction, but it is considered appropriate in many parts of the world.

The old maxim "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" is good advice for travelers. But, when it comes to proxemics issues, this is easier said than done. Learning to overcome a lifetime of conditioning is a difficult task, but the rewards for international travelers are well worth the effort.

A Personal Experience!!!

There was a 2 year span in my life where i had to ride a bus to school when i went to Parrot Academy. My first day i entered the bus and sat down where the driver told me to. There was no one in the other seat next to me and i was relieved because i only knew 3 or 4 people that went to this school. So, we were about to take off and one more person boards the bus and heads straight for me. Not only did she sit in the seat next to me, but she sat right on top of me basically. Her leg was touching my leg and her arm was touching mine. I thought for a second that i might have just found out that i was claustrophobic. Then i thought of times that i had been in cramped situations and realized that i was not, i was simply not a fan of people touching me in crowded spaces. It made me feel very uncomfortable. The next day i asked the bus driver if i could sit on the outside of the seat from then on and she obliged. From then on my problems were solved because i could sit further away from her and had space to move so that we would not be touching. Well i just thought i would share that since it crossed my mind. Hopefully i can think of some more for the near future!

Funny Proxemics Video Experiment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoYTXu8yktg

Proxemics and U.S. Culture

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Proxemics and U.S. Culture

by Judie Haynes

Have you ever heard anyone say "They're in the U.S. now, let them do it our way." This activity demonstrates how deeply ingrained our cultural behavior is and how difficult it would be to change it.

Rules for Personal Space in the U.S.

Proxemics is the study of the rules in a culture about space. How far away to people stand during different types of conversations? Have you ever heard of the American "bubble?" Most Americans feel most comfortable when people keep an arms-length away during conversations. Personal distance, which is the space between colleagues during a normal conversation, is usually about 20 to 36 inches. If the person is not well known to us,we will stand from 2 to 4 feet away during a conversation.

The rules of space proxemics are well defined in all cultures. These attitudes about space are very hard to change. They also offer an opportunity to demonstrate how culture affects our behavoir.

Take the Elevator!

Imagine that you are in an elevator in a hotel in the United States. All of the other occupants are unknown to you. Read and answer the questions and discuss them in your groups.

• What are the rules are for standing in the elevator? Where do people stand when there are only two or three people? What happens when a fourth person enters the elevator.
• How would you feel if there were two people on the elevator and a third person entered and stood right next to you?
• What happens when the elevator becomes more crowded and there are now four or more people?
• How close will people stand? What is allowed to "touch?"
• What do people look at in a crowded elevator?
• When is it permissible to talk to the other people?

Responses to "Take the Elevator!"

Elevator behavior in the United States is very rigid. Compare your responses with those below.

1. If there are only two or three people on an elevator, each person usually leans against the walls. If a fourth person boards the elevator, the four corners are normally occupied.

2. This would be a breach of our personal “space.” We would feel very uncomfortable and move or get off the elevator at the next stop.

3. When there are more than four people on an elevator, the occupants begin to follow a complex set of rules for behavior. Everyone turns to face the door. Hands, purses, and briefcases hang down in front of the body. People usually scrunch up, rounding their shoulders, so that they take up as little space as possible.

4. People don’t touch each other in any way unless the elevator becomes very crowded, and then they only touch at the shoulders or upper arms. If you see an overcrowded elevator, you will probably choose to wait for the next one.

5. Everyone usually looks at the floor indicator located above the door.

6. It is unusual for people (who are strangers) to speak to each other in an elevator unless they are sharing some kind of similar experience. (Such as a conference) People who do know each other will usually speak softly. When a group of people enter the elevator and do not follow these rules, other occupants usually feel very uncomfortable.

If you think this behavior is exaggerated, the next time you are on an elevator, don’t face the door. Turn around and face toward the other occupants. See what their reaction is. If you really want to upset everyone, give them a big grin.

Personal Proxemic Zone Violation Experience

I had an encounter the other day that related to both the topic of this blog, and the video we had to respond to in class on personal space. I was eating lunch at Case dining hall with a couple of my friends, when some of other people's friends showed up. They sat down right beside me, even though there were empty seats all around the table. This made me a little uncomfortable, mainly because I didn't know the people. Then, when a person sitting next to me left, I moved closer to the people who I had come to eat with initially. This decision to move was almost instantaneous, and it wasn't until I had already done it that I realized that this was similar to the situations that were shown in the video that we looked at online this week.
This experience continues to help show that in our society we are raised to leave as much space in between people who we do not know and ourselves. This is very different from other societies where people are more comfortable being close to one another.
One of the topics that the video "touched" on was the fact that we are also an apologetic society: we apologize every time that we run into someone to eliminate any conflict. When people from other countries come to our country, one of the things that they notice the most is the fact that we apologize so much for running into people, or even cutting someone off. This differs from the societies in other countries that are less apologetic. In these nations, if someone runs into another person or cuts someone off, they just continue about their business.
I feel that this is because in our society we like to leave as much space in between ourselves and others. When others violate our personal space, we become uncomfortable and sometimes hostile. We apologize, first, because we know how we feel when others violate or space so we try to eliminate that tension, and two, because we are raised to do so.

A Day In The Life...Of Proxemic Zones

Throughout the day today, I have been paying extra attention to how Proxemic Zones affected me personally. Starting very early this morning and lasting until early this evening, I kept track of every instance where either I made a choice, or someone else did, that involved using Proxemic Zones. I will provide the example and some commentary with each situation and summarize my results at the end.

9:15 a.m. - Where to sit on the benches at the bus stop

As I am approaching the bus stop this morning, I noticed myself beginning to calculate the best position for me to sit. There are two opposite benches facing each other underneath an awning. One person is sitting in the middle of one of the benches while another is sitting on the far left side of the other bench. I decided it would be best to sit at the far right side. This provided the maximum amount of space between us all.

9:35 a.m. - The line of people waiting for ticket distribution outside of Reynolds Coliseum.

I noticed that most people seemed to be standing in little groups throughout the line. It would seem that everyone came in groups to begin with, but the chances of that are slim. Using my knowledge of Proxemic Zones, I would venture to guess that the reason for the pattern is due to consistent communication. The people who had been standing in line the longest had most likely gotten to know each other and had stepped out of a Public zone and into a more Social one.

9:45 a.m. - Arrangement of seating in lobby on ground floor of Withers Hall.

There are five, two person couches that are in the lobby and when I arrived this morning every on of them had one person sitting on them. I decided I was going to have to break the mold and sit with someone else. I noticed that I chose a seat beside a girl who had placed her book bag in the middle of the couch. Looking back I believe I chose this one because the girl had already provide a barrier between us that we would not have to establish using nonverbal cues.

11:30 a.m. - Sitting with an acquaintance at lunch.

I normally eat lunch with one of my friends, but since he was sick today, I decided to eat with an acquaintance from my Spanish class. I say he is an acquaintance because he is most definitely not a friend. We got Chick Fil A and ate it in the bubble located at the brickyard. When I sat down at a four person table I noticed that he sat at the corner across from me. I think he did this to provide the maximum distance between us since we are not good friends.

4:15 p.m. - Seating on the bus back to my apartment.

When the bus arrives at Talley Student Center there is always a mad dash to be the first person on the bus. There are 20 pairs of seats provide around 40 total seats. I was standing approximately 20th in line and noticed that every single person in front of me sat down in a seat by themselves knowing full well that all the seats on the bus would be taken. I feel as though those people wanted that extra space while they could get it knowing that the ride back to the apartment would be crowded.



In summary, I would like to reiterate the fact that our Proxemic Zones are all around us and they effect our decision making processes on a day to day basis. The situations that I listed above are only the ones that stood out in my mind. I'm sure that there were many more that I just did not recognize at the time. Looking through the examples I gave shows just how much people value space. Either at a bus stop, a couch in a lobby, or a seat on the bus they know will be taken, people are always trying to maximize their space and protect it from others.

Here is a link to another example of a Proxemic Zone violation video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoYTXu8yktg