To Close for Comfort essays

To Close for Comfort essays According to the article, Too Close for Comfort, personal space can be defined as, an invisible boundary surrounding each individual, a territory into which others may trespass. Numerous studies have been conducted measuring gender differences in dyadic intervention. Past results have shown that females do not require as much personal space in conversation than males. James Baxter also conducted a study involving interpersonal spacing in natural settings. Baxter observed similar gender differences, however he also concluded that role relationships were a determining factor in all three scenarios. The level of comfort and relationship status while engaging in conversation also becomes a determining factor. The more comfortable one is with the person and there environment, the more likely they will allow the personal to enter into close conversation. When choosing to further these studies, it is my intention to observe the personal spaces amongst college students. Since topics of conversation are different amongst age groups, whereas college student may have more friendly social discussions over those who are older, it may be that personal space will decrease. In terms of gender difference, it is my intention to reaffirm past results that females will engage in much closer conversation in both female-to-female dyadic intervention as well as male to female relations. Based on my observations, as well as my fellow observers, results will show that females will engage in much closer, proximal conversation than men. In instances of female/male conversation, it is likely that the distance between the two people who are involved in conversation will increase when it is the male instigating conversation. In performing this experiment, natural observations were made on campus, from an unobtrusive view within an everyday college social environment. S ...