Title PROXEMICS IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONTEXT

Author(s) Uza, Tokuyu

Citation 沖縄短大論叢 = OKINAWA TANDAI RONSO, 10(1): 1-15

Issue Date 1996-03-01

URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/10668

Rights 沖縄大学短期大学部 PROXEMICS IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONTEXT

Tokuyu Uza

TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION I. DEFINITION OF PERSONAL SPACE II. PERSONAL SPACE VERSUS TERRITORY III. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES REGARDING PERSONAL SPACE IV. CREATION OF PERSONAL SPACE V. INTRUSIONS ON PERSONAL SPACE By People By Shapes By Animals VI. OCCASIONS REQUIRING ADEQUATE PERSONAL SPACE In Strict Privacy Bad Breath Or Body Odor Psychological Condition VII. OCCASIONS REQUIRING FORFEIT OF PERSONAL SPACE Vlll. OCCASIONS REQUIRING FORFEIT OF PERSONAL SPACE CONCLUSION REFERENCES

- 1 - INTRODUCTION

This paper is written for individuals who are going to foreign countries due to their business, education, family, and any other reasons which make them travel abroad. Every country has its own clutural differences. To understand this difference in culture is a puzzlement and frustration to people when and if they do not know how to manage the situation. To live in a different culture productively is like going through a maze without going back and forth. It may take time to find out which way is closer and easier, but once one finds on easy path, understands the rules, directions, and angles to get though the maze one will develop a thorough understanding of the maze. There are many things one ought to know when living in a foreign country. In this paper, we shall examine the subject of proxemics. Edward T. Hall who is the specialist in Personal Space has given the special name of proxemics to the study of space. (Tubbs, Stewart L, and Moss, Sylvia, 1980 p. 169). Proxemics are broad, therefore, it will be narrowed down to personal space. Every single person has their own personal space, but most do not realize that they have personal space even though they feel uncomfortable if someone invades their personal space. In this research we shall analyze the following: I . Definition of personal space, II. Personal space versus territory, III. Cultural differences regarding personal space, IV. Creation of personal space, V. Intrusions on personal space, by people, by shapes, and by animals,VI. Occasions requiring adequate personal space, in strict privacy, bad breath or body odor, and psychological condition,VII. Occasions !equiring forfeit of personal space, and VIII. Cultural adjustments to personal space.

- 2 - I . DEFINITION OF PERSONAL SPACE. Edward T. Hall's perspective of communication is that; communication is a multichannel affair. Hall believes that just as language varies from culture to culture, so do the other interacting media. Specifically, proxemics refers to the use of space in communication. "Proxemics is the term I have coined for the interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture" (Hall, 1966. p.l). According to Hall (1963), another definition is that the proxemics is the study of how man unconsciously structures microspace and the distance between men in conduct of daily transactions, the organizations of space in his house and buildings, and ultimately the layout of his towns. Although this definition of proxemics is broad, most of the work in the area has been limited to the use of interpersonal space. Edward T. Hall and Mildred R. Hall (1985) said, every individual has around himself an invisible bubble of space that contracts and expands depending on several factors: his emotional state, psychological state, the activity he's performing at the time and his cultural background. This bubble is a kind of mobile territory that a person will defend against intrusion. Robert Sommer's (1969) concern is with personal space, "an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person's body into which intruders may not come" (p.26). In effect, he says that the concept of personal space can be thought of as a person's portable territory, which each person carries along wherever he or she may go. Therefore, the personal space is the space that the individual has and that space is occupied by themselves. It is impossible to measure the presonal space because it is an "invisible, flexible bubble that surrounds us" (Hickson Ill, Mark L, and Stacks, p.40).

- 3- II. PERSONAL SPACE VERSUS TERRITORY The main difference between the two is that the territory is uncarryable but visible, whereas, the personal space is carryable but invisible. Usually the term "territory" is used in geographical sense.

The most important difference is that personal space is carried around while territory is relatively stationary. The animal of man will usually mark the boundaries of his territory so that they are visible to others, but the boundaries of his personal space are invisible. Personal space has the body at its center, while territory does not. (Sommer, 1969, p. 248)

This is the most accurate definition and distinction between the personal space and the territory. In addition to Sommer's interpretation, anthropologist, Presley added "territory is a concept of a geographical location" (1990).

III. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES REGARDING PERSONAL SPACE Psychologically, a person's space helps them to feel secure, private and comfortable by defining their distance from other people. This distance is different in each culture, for example:

Two Venezuelan students had just been in trodused to an American woman in the cafeteria. As they talked to their new acquaintance, they stood very close to her. The woman kept moving away a few inches. They came closer, and she moved away again. When their conversation was finished, one of the students commented, 'She didn't seem very insterested in what we were saying, did she?' 'Maybe she was a littel afraid of us,' his friend said.( World Speak: "International Sleuth". 7)

- 4- For these two Venezuelan students the personal space was not as large as that for the North American. Therefore, the two Venezuelan students were trying to approach to the point which is their personal space, but in order for them to gain or attain their personal space they had to break into the American's personal space. The North American desires to keep her personal space and if someone who does not have a close relationship with her approaches, she will move away to keep her personal space. The problem is that they have enculturated defferent concepts and values of personal space. These two variables are not tought in school, but are something that individuals acquire through their own clutures. On the other hand, target cultre can be acculturated. According to Fraida and Elite:

Culture learning is a natural process in which human beings internalize the knowledge needed to function in a societal group. It may occur in the native context as enculturation or in a non-native or secondary context as acculturation. Fundamentally, learning a first culture is a process of indoctrination. Enculturaion builds a sense of cultural or social indentity, a network of values and beliefs, patterned ways of living, and, for the most part, ethnocentrism, or belief in the power and the rightness of native ways. Acculturation, on the other hand, involves the process of pulling out the world view or ethos of first culture, learning new ways of meeting old problems and shedding ethnocentric evaluations. (1990, p. 55) This means that an individual's behavior reflects one's way of living. In addition, Fraida and Elite, Ryan and Cooper (1984) defines how culture influences individual's behavior in everyday life:

By culture we mean the system of norms and standards that a society

- 5- develops over the course of many generations and that profoundly influences the everyday behavior of people in the society. More simply, culture is as people do. (p.l51)

This phrase states that people will behave differently in different countries: If there was an international meeting with people who do not know about personal space, there will be a misunderstanding and pressure by their need for personal space. "That most people do not know what they are doing with their bodies when they are talking" (P. Ekman and W. V. Friesen, 183). According to Littlejohn (1989), "American culture utilizes four discernible distances: intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal (11/2 to 4 feet), social (4 to 12 feet), public (over 12 feet)" (p.64). The use of personal space is the most noticeable behavior in cross·cultural meeting.

IV. CREATION OF PERSONAL SPACE The following represents one example of the techniques of how individuals create personal space not only in the library but also in the office, restaurant, and airport.

A person can sprawl out, resting his legs on the chair next to him. If he gets up from the table, he may "reserve" his place by spreading out his books and papers or leaving a jacket draped over the chair he was sitting in. How far you go in defending your personal space will depend, of course, on both your personality and your communication style. If you sit too close to me in the library, I may get up and move. But reverse our roles and it's possible you might glare at me and even spread out your notebooks and papers so that they take up a good part of the table" (Tubbs, Stewart L, and Moss, Sylvia, 1980 p. 173).

- 6- This manner of creating personal space is easier for most people because they can make preparation before someone tries to invade his/her territory. Yet, after they have encountered someone's innovation to the territory, it is too late to spread out their notebooks and papers. However, if they had the same concept of personal space, they would not have to worry at all, but if they did not have the same cultural concept of personal space they may suffer trying to keep their own intact. For instance, when the North American wants to talk with a Latin American, the North Amreican's comfortable distance is approximately 3 feet to 5 feet, but it is an uncomfortable distance for the Latin American so he moves forward to make the distance closer. When the Latin Amreican gets close enough to feel comfortable, the North Amreican feels uncomfortable so he moves back a couple of steps until he is comfortable. They continue more or less dancing across the floor of the room until the North American has his back against the wall and cannot go any further. The Latin Americans distance for personal space is approximately "half of an arm's length" (da Silva, Sofia). There is a small difference in the distances but from the psychological perspective, there is a tremendous difference. Hall (1959) argues:

Americans who have spent some time in Latin America without learning these space considerations make other adaptations, like barricading themselves behind their desks, using chairs and typewriter tables to keep the Latin Amreican at what is to us a comfortable distance the result is that the Latin American may even climb over the obstacles until he has achieved a distance at which he can comfortably talk. (p.l85)

Presley said, "personal space is extremely important in dealing with people

- 7- across cultures". Furthermore, Presley mentioned his own method of avoiding the disaster of infringement to his personal space in his office setting:

When someone comes into my office for the first time, I maintain the distance of about four feet. I don't know this person. If my desk were in the middle of the room or if I had a larger office, I would probably have that person sit down on the other side of my desk, in front of the desk, and I would sit behind the desk and that would be about five feet away, but this is such a small office, I can't do that. What I normally do when someone comes in is sit down and lean back (there are no objects between them). That increases the distance; this is my personal space. (1990)

When individuals have a conversation, their personal space will be determined by their distance of eye contact. People do not pay much attention to their body's distance becouse when they are having a conversation they will focus on the listener's eyes. Therefore, they cannot see or do not pay attention where their legs or hands are. This is especially true if there was a desk between the two individuals. Their legs could be within one-inch of each other but if they do not know that they will not feel offended by someone intruding to their personal space. Sometimes a person can feel that someone is in his personal space because, "space is perceived and distances are set not by vision alone but with all senses" (Hall, Edward T, and Hall Mildred R. p. 82). For these reasons, there is more personal spaces in front than behind because we cannot see from the backside of our do by.

- 8- V. INTRUSIONS ON PERSONAL SPACE By People The psychological concept of personal intrusion is only perceived by an individual if the intrusion is seen. Even if a stranger was standing right in front of you, and he was not in your sight for some reason or if you do not feel him in terms of senses, the infringement of the personal space will not occur. While you are closing your eyes you cannot tell whether someone is in your personal space or not, and most of the time you do not suspect that someone is in your personal space until you open your eyes or they engage in some kind of haptical behavior. Therefore, when you open your eyes and someone was there, you will feel frightened, and insecure even if you know the person. Futhermore, if someone invades your personal space without you noticing, a physiological reaction shall occur. The unexpected fact may cause you to jump due to the surprising incident. These emotional feeling and behavior occur becouse you feel like someone is trying to dominate or attack you by getting into your personal space.

By Shapes People can get feightened when there is an unexpected object in their personal space even if an object is harmless. In many cases, the level of surprise or tension depends on the size of object, For instance, if the object is larger than the person he will most likely be intimidated by the object. On the contrary, if the object is smaller than a dog he probably will remain cool, but it really depends on the object, one's personality, and the circumstances. If the object looks wild, a person will try to create a large distance in order to defend themselves. Personal space is very important to all animals to keep one's rights. "Our discrimination of distances is dependent on the size of the retinal image provided by an object" (Ittelson,

- 9- p. 44). People react to an object actively not passively. A person will always create the needed personal space, he will not merely stand there. "When an individual reacts to an object or situation, his whole body reacts" (Watson. p. 252).

By Animal In American society a lot of people have pets. They know how to treat their own pets, therfore, they give a certain amount of space to them, but they do not know how to deal with other animals. When individuals encounter an animal on the street people tend to make their personal space as large as they can becouse of the fear of being attacked by the animal. If you were close to the animal the animal will perhaps feel like you are trying to dominate them so the animal might get aggressive toward you to avoid a domination. Freedman (1975) explains how behavioral and psychological response will be effected by domination. "As the space gets smaller, feelings of territoriality are aroused an aggression automatically occurs" (p. 24). A mad dog can kill human, and peole know it, however it is difficult to determine whether a dog is a mad dog. Therefore most individuals are very cautious when dealing with dogs or any other animals which they are not familiar with. Knowing the safety that space provides, people generally keep their distance from strange animals:

... the animal attacks when the space he is protecting is trespassed upon. If the amount of space is largely irrelevant, a much simpler explanation would be that the animal is quite sensibly protecting his young, his mate, his supply of food, or whatever else he considers necessary for survival. As long as these are protected, he will not attack. (Freedman, p. 29)

-10- A dog is large enough to frighten people, but people also can be frightened by small creatures, for instance, a cockroach. A cockroach is a harmless creature, in terms of offense, but most people hate them, so that, when people see a cockroach in their kitchen or in a room, they frantically attempt to kill the insect. People can move into the cockroach's space to kill them, but when and if the cockroach invades their personal space the people will scream and run away to keep the cockroach out of their personal space.

VI. OCCASIONS REQUIRING ADEQUATE PERSONAL SPACE In Strict Privacy When people want to hide from others they tend to create as much personal space as they can, and, if the space is not large enough to hide in, they will use their body to make even more personal space. Furthermore, this space will be private so that no one can intrude. For example, student's behavior during an intensive examination or in the men's rest room.

Bad Breath or Body Odor When you communicate with someone who has either bad breath or body odor, you try to keep your distance from him so that you cannot smell the stench from him. On the other hand, if the person does not notice his bad breath or body odor, you may unconsciously create larger personal space than you normallly make. "Everyone tries to adjust the space around himself in a way that's comfortable for him; most often, he does this unconsciously" (Hall, Edward T, and Hall Mildred, Reed Hall. p. 79).

Psychological Condition Emotions also have a direct effect on the size of one's personal space.

-11- When you are angry or under stress, your personal space expands so that you requier more space. In this condition, you do not want to associate withe anyone and therefore you express your feelings by expanding your personal space. Anyone who comes into their personal space is actually disturbing their feelings and such an intrusion may trigger a violent outburst.

New Yourk psychiatrist Augustus Kinzel found a difference in what he calls Bidy-Buffer Zones between violent and nonviolent prison inmates. Dr. Kinzel conducted experiments in which each prisoner was placed in the center of a small room and then Dr. Kinzel slowly walked toward him. Nonviolent prisoners allowed him to come quite close, while prisoners with a history of violent behavior couldn't tolerate his proximity and reacted with some vehemence. (Hall, Edward T, and Hall Mildred R. p. 79)

But even these kind of prisoners with a history of violent behavior are human beings and whenever they feel isolated, they want someone in their personal space to comfort them.

VII. OCCASIONS REQUIRING FORFEIT OF PERSONAL SPACE When individuals are in a crowd like at school, a department store, or a festival, their personal space will reduce because there are too many people around them. Under such circumstances a person will not look at other people as being human instead he will dehumanize those around him to the level of an object so that he will not have to pay attention to his personal space. When walking in a crowd, such a person will consider other people as an object like a rock, trash can, mail box, car or something which has substance. There is no consideration for personal space when people

-12- look at a person as an object.

VII. CULTURAL ADJUSTMENTS TO PERSONAL SPACE People tend to be ethnocentric, therefore, they judge people by their own knowledge. They would say their own behavior is right and another's is wrong. This will happen when people go to foreign countries, and they will judge other cultures by comparing with their own culture, even in personal space they will say our distance is the right size and the others are wrong. But "there is no 'Right' distance" (Freedman. p. 73). People need to adjust in a culture which is different from their own. It is not simple, but it can be done. Mr. Presley said, "It is easier to adapt to a culture that has a larger distance than yours, however, it is more difficult to adapt to a culture that has a closer or smaller personal space than your own because you feel uncomfortable, you feel pressed in that kind of a situation." From an educational psychologist's perspective, simply phrased, "the principle of contiguity states that whenever two sensations occur together over and over again, they will become associated" (Woolfolk. p. 168). Through this phrase, it can be said that individuals can adapt to different concepts of personal space by contiguity even if it is difficult. It will take a long time to be acculturated, and it may be uncomfortable since one must tolerate this different behavior over and over. "If you do something in a given situation, the next time you are in that situation you will tend to do the same thing again" (Hill. p. 34). Which means you cannot change your habit at once, even if you comprehend how you should react. It takes a long time to acquire a foreign behavior. If you step back the first time you will step back the second time even if you tried your best. To acquire the different culture it will take a long time. "Rome was not built in a day" nor can acculturation be done in a day.

-13- CONCLUSION

A personal space is definitely the space that an individual unconsciously claims. That space is not only occupied by themselves, but also would be that person's portable territory. The distance of personal space depends on one's enculturated background. Furthermore, the way of creating personal space also depends on an individual's personality. People, shapes and distance, between animals and humans can be frightening without personal space. People need personal space when they want strict privacy, to escape bad odors, and to meet one's psychological condition. Sometimes people tend to see other people as an object in order to reduce the need for personal space. To study proxemics it is improtant to investigate other cultural concepts of space and one should be acculturated, not been ethnocentric. When people invest a lot of time they can become familiar with different concepts of personal space. One's personal space is the space in which one feels comfort and security.

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-14- Hall, Edward T. The Silent Language. New York; Fawcett, 1959. Hall, Edward T, and Hall, Mildred R. "The sounds of Silence" Snnusl Editions; Anthropology 87 I 88. Connecticut; The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc. 1987. Hickson III, Mark L, and Stacks, Son W. Nonverbal Communication. Iowa; Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1985. Hill, W. F. Learning: A survey of psychological interpretations. New York; Harper and Row. 1985. Ittelson, William H. Visual Space Perception. New York; Spring Publishing Company, 1960. Presley, Ted. Jr·. A Director of International Division and an Anthropolo­ gist at Abilence Christian University, 1990. Sommer, Robert. Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design. Engl­ ewood Cliffs, N. F.: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Tubbe, Stewart L. and Moss, Sylvia. Human Communication. New York: Random House, 1980. Watson, John B. Behaviorism. Chicago; The University Of Chicago Press, 1967. Woolfolk, Anita E. Educational Psychology. New Jersey; Perntice-Hall, Inc. 1984. World Speak: "International Sleuth". Colorado; World Speak Magazine. July-August, 1987.

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