Space Relations
... I started to think about personal space and personal distance from ones surroundings. I decided to focus on three aspects of space for my study. First, and most importantly, I tried to estimate a standard personal space for people. Second, I was very interested in how someones standard of personal space varied according to who was occupying his or her space and time. Third, as a side intention, I gave attention to how people utilize the space they occupy at any time. ... Since I am not very exact when calculating space, the 12 inch floor tiles were good determining tools. ... I also watched certain people after they left the line, if I felt they were exemplifying different boundaries of space, or they were utilizing their space in a way I could observe and analyze. ... Still they are all sharing the same space. Through my hour of observation, I came to some generalizations of social interaction and personal space. I also found some answers to the questions I had about personal space and contact. First, I noted that on average 12 inches away from a stranger seemed to be a standard amount of space. ... Peoples standards of general space did vary according to the other people that were around them. ... The difference in space for adolescent girls could have been for two reasons. ... Since the adults did not appear to be scolding the child, spending time (or sharing space) with children seemed to be enjoyable for the adults. ... What I did take into consideration, and it was only due to my first study at an ice cream shop in Yonkers, Coldstone Creamery, was that if I had observed any people who were couples, space barriers would have been different also. ... They were definitely passed the normal space barrier, but it was not because they were acquainted or speaking, or pushed there. They were sharing the same space, but were so engaged in what they were doing that they did not acknowledge each other. This was not the same as the incident of F1 and F2 passing M1, because M1 noticed this break of his space. In the case of O1 and J2, neither of them felt their space was violated or disrupted by the other. ... ) Therefore, my first realization was that there are times when space is not an issue between people who are engrossed in their own activities. This is a method of sharing any space one occupies with those around you. However, it is not a go ahead to invade other peoples space; it seemed to have to happen naturally and simultaneously at any given time. My second realization from this was that there are two ways to take up space. ... She was moving to different spots of the coffee shop, but was never making very overt gestures, kept her belongings close to her, and was not actually occupying much of the space that she was holding. ... So, even though she was only taking up a miniscule amount of space (whereas O1 covered more ground then she did), she was definitely occupying much more of the space she held then O1 was. This to me was a very interesting observation and awareness of the different aspects of "personal space". ... In conclusion, I found that space is a concept that can vary according to different circumstances and individual attention and relationship. ... I also came out of it with a more in depth understanding and idea of space relations.