The Breaching experiment Personal space is a concept of sociology. Personal space is an approximate area surrounding an individual in which other people should not physically violate in order for them to feel comfortable and secure. It is the zone around individuals which they regard as psychologically theirs; they don’t want to share that zone with others. The amount of personal space required for any given person is subjective, it depends on individual. It also depends on how well you know the other person. It also depends on different culture and countries; and the gender behavior like men to men, men to female, female to female and female to men. The more intimate the relationship, the less personal space is involved. When some random people try to violate ones personal space, he or she can be very uncomfortable by that violation. "The violation of personal space increases tension levels enormously," says Robert Sommer, a psychologist at the University of California-Davis and author of the book "Personal Space." Average comfort levels of personal space distance in the U.S.:
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So, I just smiled to her and said no I’m good, thanks! When I touched my dad’s hand, he looked at me and said if I need any help from him. When I touched my brother’s hand, he tickled me as he thought I’m disturbing and making fun of him. So, in sort the intimate relationships don’t mind if I violate their personal space. They don’t find it offensive.
When I did this experiment in college with friends I got different results. When I touched my female friends’ hand, they hold my hand back. They took it in a fun way as it is normal between us. When I touched my male friends’ hand they looked at me wondering why I did that, as no one touches hand without any reason. And they asked me why I did it? I didn’t answer and just smiled. They might feel weird for a moment but after some time it was
When we look at new born baby, most of the time when they explore the new world, they will use their hand try to reach the object that they are interested in. To remember how that object feel through touching. When we grow up, when we meet someone, the first thing we will do is to give out our hand to greet other with a handshake, in fact this simple action can also reveal our personality. When we do not like or trying to protect ourselves, our hand will become a fist, ready to punch to express dislike. In a relationship, we often see couples holding hands, which can also explaining as they are fear to lose each other, besides they are willing to hand their life to their opponent. When we are holing other hands, we feel secure and someone to
“ Please, do not touch me. It is my personal space. I do not cuddle, kissing with people I do not know.
Expectancy Violation Theory, or more commonly referred to as EVT, is the study of attempting to explain one’s reactions to unexpected behavior of their peers, and the various meanings that people attribute to the violation, or infringement, of their personal space. Judee Burgoon defines personal space as the invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that defines that individual’s preferred distance from others. I will explain to you the communication phenomenon of EVT, theories, behaviors and context of EVT, as well as how to apply them.
People expect others to remain a certain distance away depending on the relationship they have with someone. The closer a person is to another relationship wise (friends, relatives, partners) the more acceptable it is to be physically closer to them. The opposite can be said when strangers invade one’s personal boundaries at times it can be more than just uncomfortable having someone stand too close can also be seen as threatening. In an individualistic society, such as the one in the United States, being independent is highly encouraged. Rather than “all for one and one for all” people are told to work hard for themselves not for society as a whole. By sitting next to strangers not only did I infiltrate their boundaries but I also distracted them from their work by putting them in an uncomfortable situation. Since most subjects continued to do their work and mind their own business they held their needs as more important than interacting with me. When those two girls had an actual conversation with me and saw me as a friendly stranger rather than threatening they did not necessarily consider my needs but they did acknowledge my presence enough to set aside their work even if just for a moment. Being the social creatures that we are talking to others can put people at ease seeing that the people I sat next to took out their phones I saw that even though they did
In a lot of cultures touching is considered to be disrespectful and rude but in on our culture it is not a bad thing, it is etiquette. When we first meet someone, whether it is someone of the opposite sex or same sex, at a family gathering or social event they are often greeted with a hug, handshake, or a kiss on the cheek. If you walk in to a scenery of Cubans and do not greet them in any of those forms you are considered to be rude. Touching is a demonstration of affection. It is not taboo and does not carry a sexual connotation (Cuba, 2017). When someone in our culture goes to see a healthcare provider we like to be greeted by our formal name and with a handshake(Graham and Ritter, 2017). That is a respectful and professional way to approach us and makes us feel comfortable. When we feel comfortable in our environment it makes the appointment go by smoother and we are
A personal space belongs to a person; therefore, we feel uncomfortable when strangers invade our personal space or social distance. The behavior of invading other’s space becomes an issue, especially in a public transportation. The behavior is a manspreading that is often practiced by male. According to Oxford Living Dictionaries, manspreading refers to “the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats” (year). Since manspreading can invade other people’s personal space especially
If there is any accidental touching, then it is always followed by an apology and a reason as to why it had occurred.
The society that we live in defines what is believed to be the “correct” way to view physical space between those around us. In particular, America has specific contexts demonstrating how much space should be occupied between two people. A large space generally occurs between two strangers because in societal terms the lack of space between others indicates how much trust we exhibit with the other person. Similarly, a small space occurs between a friend or significant other and indicates the comfort he or she feels with each other. Furthermore, gender roles, which our society has created, dictate these rules and provide a basis of how we are to act. For example, women are expected to stand very close to each other because they are considered to be emotional beings that provide affection towards one another. Whereas, men are considered unemotional and therefore are expected to not prefer to be in contact with each other. In the reading, “Encounters
A study in South Africa also found a negative effect of distance on the utilization of health care services. It was found that a significant logarithmic relationship between distance from clinic and usage by the homesteads (r 2 = 0. 774, p<0.0001). The distance usage index values ranged between 31 and 198 (mean = 110 per cent, SD =43.7) for 12 clinics and this successfully highlighted clinic usage patterns across the district (Tanser et al. 2001). Distance to Guatemala City is significantly associated with the use of care during pregnancy, especially biomedical care. Women in more other communities are more likely to see some provider in a pregnancy month, but when they do, they are much less likely to see a biomedical one. This variable may
From what can be seen in the film (Arranged, 2007), the two characters Rachel and Nasira, are not accustomed to being touched by other people. One scene where Rachel had her face touched she seemed very uncomfortable while the blind kid was touching her face. Next scene, when Rachel was talking to some guy at a party she refused to shake his hand. Another scene, Nasira was telling Rachel that her date touched her, but all they did was bump into each other. In the modern western culture, people are used to coming in contact with other people. For example, I and my friends, we always shake hands, high five and hug each other.
Men, on the other hand, are more likely than women to associate touching with sexual intentions and therefore are much less likely to use touch during a conversation with another male. (Carnes) At the core, the reasons why men and women have different body language tendencies lies in accordance with each respective gender’s interpretations of signals he or she gives or receives. It is clear that they ways that men and women use nonverbal communication significantly differ from one another.
My partner and I we used our hands to make this experience more enjoyable. But I am certain that no contact would have made this activity very challenging. I seek comfort and trust just by that hold of hand. I used it to guide my speed and the width of my steps that I making. As the blinded and the guided I felt the power of the holding. It created a connection between us to navigate on the campus. When I was blinded, I was using her strengths of pulling and pushing to know how far or how sharp I should turn and move. At some point, we experimented of letting go the hand and use our voices to navigate. It was really more difficult because not only I lost my spatial direction but also I had nothing to grab to and I am a person that use prominently my sense of touch. I love to feel and experience objects and people with my gestures. When I greet a close friend I always welcome them with a big firm hug rather than a handshake or the kisses on the cheek. I feel by hugging it gets a more deepening connection that no other greeting cues can give. It shows affection and care for the person but everyone’s perception is different about hugs because it can be an expression language of more than friends feeling and some will take it too seriously if not too personal. Only a handful of people in my life have mutual hugging greets but the newly friends soon discover that I love giving hugs because it does not take too long for them to know my affectionate side.
Many people formed this personal space by placing luggage around them, extending a body part, or using a companion to consume space. Most people stood at least a half an arm’s distance away from each other, but if this distance felt threatened people were sure to express nonverbal and sometime verbal behaviors.
According to Carnes (2010), since men are more likely than women to associate touching with sexual intentions, heterosexual men are less to use touch during conversation with other men. Due to what men call, “Manly hood” or a similar term called “standards”. Men tend to keep distances from people when they talk to them and touch them less. Men do not express too much when touching other men unlike women, where they are far less concerned about touching other women because they also use touching as an expression of friendship or sympathy. They stand close to people and touch them to generally connect with whoever they are talking to. The difference between the two are simple, men aren’t as open as women where they express their feelings to men through touching just as to other women. This is considered a nonverbal difference because, like other reasons, it can be interpreted in different ways by different genders.