PROXEMICS

Proxemics is the study of human use of space and the effects that population
density has on behaviour, communication, and social interaction.

Proxemics is one among several subcategories in the study of nonverbal

communication, including haptics (touch), kinesics (body movement), vocalics
(paralanguage), and chronemics (structure of time).

Edward T. Hall, the cultural anthropologist who coined the term in 1963,
defined proxemics as "the interrelated observations and theories of humans use
of space as a specialized elaboration of culture".In his foundational work on
proxemics, The Hidden Dimension, Hall emphasized the impact of proxemic
behavior (the use of space) on interpersonal communication. According to Hall,
the study of proxemics is valuable in evaluating not only the way people interact
with others in daily life, but also "the organization of space in [their] houses and
buildings, and ultimately the layout of [their] towns". Proxemics remains a
hidden component of interpersonal communication that is uncovered through
observation and strongly influenced by culture.
Interpersonal distance
Halldescribed the interpersonal distances of humans (the relative distances
between people) in four distinct zones: (1) intimate space, (2) personal space, (3)
social space, and (4) public space.

Horizontal

Intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering

 Close phase – less than one inch (one to two cm)
 Far phase – 6 to 18 inches (15 to 46 cm)
Personal distance for interactions among good friends or family
 Close phase – 1.5 to 2.5 feet (46 to 76 cm)
 Far phase – 2.5 to 4 feet (76 to 122 cm)
Social distance for interactions among acquaintances
 Close phase – 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 m)
 Far phase – 7 to 12 feet (2.1 to 3.7 m)
Public distance used for public speaking
 Close phase – 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 m)
 Far phase – 25 feet (7.6 m) or more.
The distance surrounding a person forms a space. The space within intimate distance
and personal distance is called personal space. The space within social distance and out
of personal distance is called social space, and the space within public distance is
called public space.

Personal space is the region surrounding a person which they regard as psychologically
theirs. Most people value their personal space and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety
when their personal space is encroached. Permitting a person to enter personal space
and entering somebody else's personal space are indicators of perception of those
people's relationship. An intimate zone is reserved for close friends, lovers, children and
close family members. Another zone is used for conversations with friends, to chat with
associates, and in group discussions. A further zone is reserved for strangers, newly
formed groups, and new acquaintances. A fourth zone is used for speeches, lectures,
and theater; essentially, public distance is that range reserved for larger audiences.

Entering somebody's personal space is normally an indication of familiarity and

sometimes intimacy. However, in modern society, especially in crowded urban
communities, it can be difficult to maintain personal space, for example when in a
crowded train, elevator or street. Many people find such physical proximity to be
psychologically disturbing and uncomfortable, though it is accepted as a fact of modern
life. In an impersonal, crowded situation, eye contact tends to be avoided. Even in a
crowded place, preserving personal space is important, and intimate and sexual
contact, such as frotteurism and groping, is unacceptable physical contact.
 The amygdala is suspected of processing people's strong reactions to personal
space violations since these are absent in those in which it is damaged and it is
activated when people are physically close. Research links the amygdala with
emotional reactions to proximity to other people. First, it is activated by such
proximity, and second, in those with complete bilateral damage to their
amygdala, such as patient S.M., lack a sense of personal space boundary. As the
researchers have noted: "Our findings suggest that the amygdala may mediate
the repulsive force that helps to maintain a minimum distance between people.
Further, our findings are consistent with those in monkeys with bilateral
amygdala lesions, who stay within closer proximity to other monkeys or people,
an effect we suggest arises from the absence of strong emotional responses to
personal space violation.

 A person's personal space is carried with them everywhere they go. It is the
most inviolate form of territory.Body spacing and posture, according to Hall, are
unintentional reactions to sensory fluctuations or shifts, such as subtle changes
in the sound and pitch of a person's voice. Social distance between people is
reliably correlated with physical distance, as are intimate and personal distance,
according to the delineations below. Hall did not mean for these measurements
to be strict guidelines that translate precisely to human behavior, but rather a
system for gauging the effect of distance on communication and how the effect
varies between cultures and other environmental factors.
Vertical

The distances mentioned above are horizontal distance. There is also vertical
distance that communicates something between people. In this case,
however, vertical distance is often understood to convey the degree of
dominance or sub-ordinance in a relationship. Looking up at or down on
another person can be taken literally in many cases, with the higher person
asserting greater status.

Teachers, and especially those who work with small children, should realize
that students will interact more comfortably with a teacher when they are in
same vertical plane. Used in this way, an understanding of vertical distance
can become a tool for improved teacher-student communication. On the
other hand, a disciplinarian might put this information to use in order to gain
psychological advantage over an unruly student.
 Biometrics
 Hall used biometric concepts to categorize, explain, and explore the ways
people connect in space. These variations in positioning are impacted by a
variety of nonverbal communicative factors, listed below.
 Kinesthetic factors: This category deals with how closely the participants are
to touching, from being completely outside of body-contact distance to being
in physical contact, which parts of the body are in contact, and body part
positioning.
 Haptic code: This behavioral category concerns how participants are touching
one another, such as caressing, holding, feeling, prolonged holding, spot
touching, pressing against, accidental brushing, or not touching at all.
 Visual code: This category denotes the amount of eye contact between
participants. Four sub-categories are defined, ranging from eye-to-eye contact
to no eye contact at all.
 Thermal code: This category denotes the amount of body heat that each
participant perceives from another. Four sub-categories are defined: conducte
heat detected, radient heat detected, heat probably detected, and no detection
of heat.
Neuropsychology
Whereas Hall's work uses human interactions to demonstrate spatial
variation in proxemics, the field of neuropsychology describes personal
space in terms of the kinds of "nearness" to an individual body.

Extrapersonal space: The space that occurs outside the reach of an

individual.
Peripersonal space: The space within reach of any limb of an individual.
Thus, to be "within arm's length" is to be within one's peripersonal space.
Pericutaneous space: The space just outside our bodies but which
might be near to touching it. Visual-tactile perceptive fields overlap in
processing this space. For example, an individual might see a feather as
not touching their skin but still experience the sensation of being tickled
when it hovers just above their hand. Other examples include the
blowing of wind, gusts of air, and the passage of heat.[10]
Organization of space in territories
While personal space describes the immediate space surrounding a person,
territory refers to the area which a person may "lay claim to" and defend against
others.[
2] There are four forms of human territory in proxemic theory. They are:

Public territory: a place where one may freely enter. This type of territory is
rarely in the constant control of just one person. However, people might come
to temporarily own areas of public territory.
Interactional territory: a place where people congregate informally
Home territory: a place where people continuously have control over their
individual territory
Body territory: the space immediately surrounding us

These different levels of territory, in addition to factors involving personal

space, suggest ways for us to communicate and produce expectations of
appropriate behavior
Cultural factors
 Personal space is highly variable, due to cultural differences and personal preferences. On
average, preferences vary significantly between countries. A 2017 study found that
personal space preferences with respect to strangers ranged between more than 120 cm in
Romania, Hungary and Saudi Arabia, and less than 90 cm in Argentina, Peru, Ukraine
and Bulgaria.
 The cultural practices of the United States show considerable similarities to those in
northern and central European regions, such as Germany, Scandinavia, and the United
Kingdom. Greeting rituals tend to be the same in Europe and in the United States,
consisting of minimal body contact—often confined to a simple handshake. The main
cultural difference in proxemics is that residents of the United States like to keep more
open space between themselves and their conversation partners (roughly 4 feet (1.2 m)
compared to 2 to 3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) in Europe). European cultural history has seen a
change in personal space since Roman times, along with the boundaries of public and
private space. This topic has been explored in A History of Private Life (2001), under the
general editorship of Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby.
 Hall notes that different culture types maintain different standards of personal space.
Realizing and recognizing these cultural differences improves cross-cultural
understanding, and helps eliminate discomfort people may feel if the interpersonal
distance is too large ("stand-offish") or too small (intrusive).
 Adaption
People make exceptions to and modify their space requirements. A number of
relationships may allow for personal space to be modified, including familial ties,
romantic partners, friendships and close acquaintances, where there is a greater
degree of trust and personal knowledge. Personal space is affected by a person's
position in society, with more affluent individuals expecting a larger personal
space. Personal space also varies by gender and age. Males typically use more
personal space than females, and personal space has a positive relation to age
(people use more as they get older). Most people have a fully developed (adult)
sense of personal space by age twelve.
Under circumstances where normal space requirements cannot be met, such as in
public transit or elevators, personal space requirements are modified accordingly.
According to the psychologist Robert Sommer, one method of dealing with
violated personal space is dehumanization. He argues that on the subway,
crowded people often imagine those intruding on their personal space as
inanimate. Behavior is another method: a person attempting to talk to someone
can often cause situations where one person steps forward to enter what they
perceive as a conversational distance, and the person they are talking to can step
back to restore their personal space.
Applied research
The theory of proxemics is often considered in relation to the impact of
technology on human relationships. While physical proximity cannot be
achieved when people are connected virtually, perceived proximity can be
attempted, and several studies have shown that it is a crucial indicator in the
effectiveness of virtual communication technologies. These studies suggest that
various individual and situational factors influence how close we feel to another
person, regardless of distance. The mere-exposure effect originally referred to
the tendency of a person to positively favor those who they have been physically
exposed to most often. However, recent research has extended this effect to
virtual communication. This work suggests that the more someone
communicates virtually with another person, the more he is able to envision
that person's appearance and workspace, therefore fostering a sense of personal
connection. Increased communication has also been seen to foster common
ground, or the feeling of identification with another, which leads to positive
attributions about that person. Some studies emphasize the importance of
shared physical territory in achieving common ground, while others find that
common ground can be achieved virtually, by communicating often.
Advertising
Part of Facebook's earning comes from on-site advertising. During these years,
Facebook has offered companies the ability to post and present content in a
timeline format on their free brand or business page. By doing so, companies
can deliver a more comprehensive promotional message and increase audience
engagement. If a user "likes" a brand page, corporate content posted on the
brand page will appear in the user's news feed. Many users felt angry about the
overly implanted ads that showed up in their Facebook timeline.

Users that consider Facebook advertising "annoying" and "intrusive" may do so

because companis are invading their social domain (territory) with targeted,
paid-for, corporate communications. Those that "hate" receiving targeted
messages on their social media profiles could be experiencing frustration.[31] It is
likely that these users are devoting effort to the creation and maintenance of
boundaries around their social role, only to have advertisers break through
these boundaries with promotional content.
Cinema
Proxemics is an essential component of cinematic mise-en-scène, the
placement of characters, props and scenery within a frame, creating visual
weight and movement.There are two aspects to the consideration of proxemics
in this context, the first being character proxemics, which addresses such
questions as: How much space is there between the characters? What is
suggested by characters who are close to (or, conversely, far away from) each
other? Do distances change as the film progresses? and, Do distances depend
on the film's other content?] The other consideration is camera proxemics,
which answers the single question: How far away is the camera from the
characters/action? Analysis of camera proxemics typically relates Hall's system
of proxemic patterns to the camera angle used to create a specific shot, with
the long shot or extreme long shot becoming the public proxemic, a full shot
(sometimes called a figure shot, complete view, or medium long shot)
becoming the social proxemic, the medium shot becoming the personal
proxemic, and the close up or extreme close up becoming the intimate
proxemic.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a communication phenomenon in which a
bully utilizes electronic media in order to harass peers.
Adolescents favor texting or computer-mediated
communication as an alternative to the more directly combative
face-to-face interactions because it takes advantage of evading
imposed social norms such as "school rules", which are likely to
be especially repressive of aggression involving females.Online
bullying has a lot in common with bullying in school: Both
behaviors include harassment, humiliation, teasing, and
aggression. Cyberbullying presents unique challenges in the
sense that the perpetrator can attempt to be anonymous, and
attacks can happen at any time of day or night.