The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining the relationship between room size and the limits for comfortable conversation in dyadic interactions.

This is an inquiry into human personal space at a basic descriptive level. Its purpose is to observe some of the characteristics of personal space configurations as measured by a projective technique and to see how certain conditions may effect them.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-173).

Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-223).

The purpose of this exploratory study was 1) to identify and illustrate a number of components of a scheme of interpretation used by children to comprehend and act according to social rules and conventions governing the appropriation of space, and 2) to develop and test a model for examining qualitative differences in such a scheme of interpretation, within and between various age groups. The model was based on two propositions: first that knowledge of the social structure and the social organization of space are two components of a scheme of interpretation, and second that such a scheme of interpretation will become more abstract, differentiated, and integrated with age. In the final study fifteen children were interviewed, including ten six year olds and five twelve and thirteen year olds. The interview focussed on the children's awareness of and justifications for social rules and conventions governing access to and use of private, semi-private, and public spaces in the neighborhood, school, and home. The model was successfully used in the analysis of the children's responses. Various aspects of their conceptions of the social structure and the social organization of space were explored. Their responses were also classified according to four levels posited in the model. It was found that most of the six year olds had an undifferentiated and concrete scheme of interpretation. They were aware of context-specific rules and conventions. When asked to explain or justify the rules they typically referred to the physical or social characteristics of the setting. By twelve or thirteen years of age the children had developed a more abstract, differentiated, and integrated scheme of interpretation. They often referred to concepts such as power or ownership to explain or justify the ability of various individuals to appropriate space. Thus, the results of this study suggest that an understanding of spatial appropriation involves not simply internalizing a 'catalogue' of social rules and conventions, but rather constructing a more complex scheme of interpretation consisting of knowledge of 1) the social structure, 2) the social organization of space, and 3) the relations between them. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Proxemics, the study of human use of space, had been used by anthropologists in studying cultural patterns and interactions. Hall (1959, 1966) has investigated the specific norms of interpersonal distance and physical contact of several diverse cultures and found them to be quite different between cultures but quite stable within cultures or at least within subcultures. Other investigators have found stable differences in the personal spaced the boundary within which anxiety is produced if another enters^, between the sexes, between schizophrenics and normals (Horowitz, Duff & Stratton, 1964) and between violent and nonviolent prisoners (Kinzel, 1969). The effect of different spatial arrangements on the interaction on a hospital ward (Sommer & Ross, 1958), on table conversations (Sommer, 1959, 1965), in group therapy (Winick & Holt, 1961) and in the counseling situation (Haase, 1970) has been investigated.

This study examined the utility of the conceot of interaction tendency in explaining personal spacing behavior. Interaction tendency v/as defined as an aggregate of feelings about an interaction situation and as a mediator between personal spacing behavior and the kind of associations connected with an interaction. It was hypothesized that as the positivity of the associations connected with an interaction increased, interaction tendency increased, and personal spacing decreased. Two levels of task (problem solving and conversation), two levels of associations connected with the task (positive and negative), and tv;o levels of associations connected with the other interactant (positive and negative) were manipulated, and the resultant seating behavior was observed. It was found that the independent variables were not predictive of seating behavior.

No description available.