Abstract
This paper is a report on the compilation and analysis of data obtained in the course of a simple psychological experiment. The essence of the experiment was to observe people's reaction to an unauthorized person's approximation in the elevator. The campus building and the library with the several floors were used as a site of the experiment. In addition, the experiment involved two people, one of them, i.e. the examiner, took a step to meet people in the elevator, and the other, the observer, studied the examinees' reaction and recorded the data. The purpose of the experiment is to analyze people's reactions to a stranger's approach without any reason. This analysis will determine the basic principles of human behavior in elevator and discover why some behavioral reactions related to violation of personal space.
In the first half of the experiment, there were tested 11 persons, and 5 of them were women. Taking a step in their direction after the elevator's starts, the female examinees became guarded and pretended that nothing was happening. Two of the examinees did nothing while the rest hesitated for 3 seconds and then to took a step to the side, trying not to look at the examiner. As to the male examinees (there were 6 of them during the first 30 minutes of the experiment), only two of them made a step in the opposite direction, while the others did not move. Those who did not step back from the examiner concentrated their attention in order to determine the cause of this gesture; the rest did not show any reaction. Precisely, the majority of people do not approve an invasion of personal space because that personal space is an area that can be controlled only personally (DeBeer-Keston et al 407). In this space, a person feels completely protected from any intrusion from the outside. Basically, each person perceives a private space as a part of him-/herself. That is the cause why many people do not like trespassing of private areas. In addition, the concept of "personal space" means a certain distance at which a person allows an interlocutor to approach. There are so-called "intersubjective areas of 4 types: intimate area is about 50 cm long; personal area is 1.5 m long; social area is approximately 4 meters long; and public area is a little more than 7 m long (Fox 432). During the experiment that took place in the elevator, the examiner violated the social area and trespassed on personal areas deliberately but with minimal persistence. Violating a personal area, the examiner did one more step towards the chosen person, and thus, towards his or her intimate area.
Basically, people allow their familiars to violate their intimate area because they symbolize their personal space. Hence, people's behavior changes when the distance reduces. Some of the examinees began to breathe more often, or got more mobile, which indicated their alarm associated with discomfort. The second half of the experiment took place in the library building's first floor. Over the next 30 minutes, the experiment continued with the new 9 people, 5 of whom were women and 4 of them were men. The men reacted to the examiner's approach more calmly than the women did. Basically, etiquette of behavior in elevator does not allow too close distance between people. Therefore, when the intimate areas of people's personal spaces were broken, most of the subjects began to experience discomfort and anxiety. The behavior of the subjects was also dependent on the number of people in the elevator; the more people were the less aggressive was the subjects' response to an approach. Two of the subjects greeted the approaching examiner. Interestingly, 2 women and 1 man apologized, stepping aside.
Conclusions
In the course of the experiments, it was possible to find out the causes of certain behavioral reactions related to the violation of personal space in the elevator. As the elevator is a temporarily closed location of a little space, time, people were able to accept a temporary violation of their personal space. At the same time, the subjects paid attention to the examiner's step towards them and expected an accompanying action. This reaction is due to the fact that any action taking place in a personal area (1.5 meters) is usually associated with interpersonal communication. In case of violation of an intimate area (50 cm), the subjects began to experience discomfort and excitement or tried to respond to the approach with greetings, apologies, or removals.
Works Cited
DeBeer-Keston, Kate, Lorraine Mellon, and Linda Zener Solomon. "Helping Behavior As A Function Of Personal Space Invasion." Journal Of Social Psychology 126.3 (1986): 407-408. Business Source Complete. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Fox, John D. "Comment On Harris, Luginbuhl, And Fishbein: Loglinear And Logit Models For Tabular Experimental Data." Social Psychology Quarterly 42.4 (1979): 431-433. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
