29 May 2020 Week 6 Response To Personal Space Differences

Before reading about personal space differences and watching the class by Professor Ivers I only considered personal space as something around me. I knew there were other spaces such as distance between cars and how we view our yard and how we view others using our property without permission. But I do not view any of that as defined as personal space.

For some object that is mine, if someone were to use it without permission I would not be pleased but I would not view it as a violation of my personal space only a violation of my personal property.

I grew up in suburban areas of the United States and for most of my life have lived in suburban areas. In the fall of 2017, I moved to a rural area in upstate New York and very much enjoy the fact that there are fewer people around where I live. I never lived in a city that had a subway until I moved to Virginia in 1997. However, my first experience with crowded transportation was in the Dominican Republic after my mission.

Even though I like living in the country and I grew up in suburban areas, I also believe that my personal space is smaller than what the reading and video indicated it would be. I base this belief on an experience I had many years ago. I remember distinctly a psychologist who did a demonstration of personal space with me. She told me to stand still and then, facing me, she approached me and kept getting closer until I leaned back at which point the demonstration was over and I am guessing it was at that point that she had entered my intimate space or possibly my close intimate space and since there was no emotional attachment between either of us I was unwilling to let her get closer. As I recall there were only inches (1 to 4) between us, especially our faces before I leaned my face backward to increase the distance.

It is very important to understand the differences in personal space from culture to culture and what effects it has on people. I found it interesting how the reading described that as a mob grew each individual in the mob had less personal space and that increased the agitation and violence of the mob. I also found it interesting that the reading attributed increased violence in crowded cities to people having less personal space. This makes me wonder about how crowded classrooms affect agitation levels in students who feel their personal space is constantly being invaded.

As a teacher, it is helpful for me to understand how personal space affects everyone in a classroom. Being aware of personal space will help me to find ways to organize a classroom and classroom rules to reduce students feeling their personal space is being violated. This explains why many classrooms are the way they are. I wonder if more improvements can be made.

And I'll leave anyone reading this with one final thought. I laughed when I read about the Luncheon Test. Essentially it indicated that when people eat together they divide the table up (subconsciously) into personal space and the salt and pepper and flowers and such are usually placed in the middle of the table to ensure it is not in anyone's personal space. To test this you should, one by one, push each object into the other person's personal space and that eventually, the person will push all the objects back to get them out of their personal space or lean back to readjust their personal space so the objects are not in their personal space. I laughed at this because I imagined doing this on purpose just to see people's reactions. Don't get me wrong I am generally a conservative, considerate person and try not to do anything to irritate or offend people. However, if you are ever eating with me in a restaurant don't be surprised if everything that was in the middle of the table when the meal began ends up on your side of the table before the meal is done. You have been warned ;)