Personal space: How close is too close?
Personal space is the physical space surrounding someone into which
encroachment can feel threatening or uncomfortable.
Observation
One of our team member’s aunts has a very severe case of
claustrophobia. We started questioning if it began at childhood and if
it changed in relation to who was near him eg. Family and friend vs.
stranger’s. It acts as a disability for her at times as she cannot get
into elevators or public transport/bathrooms for the fear of going
into a panic attack due to overcrowding.
Hypothesis
We wondered if this was due to hygiene or just an irrational fear. We
wanted to find out whether it was set at childhood or whether it was
always a general phobia that worsened with age. We also wondered how
common it is and investigated the different factors that influence the
phobia. Our overall questions included;
• Does hygiene play a part?
• What affects the size of someone’s personal space?
• How is claustrophobia linked?
• What age is it set?
• Does the average amount of personal space differ in relation to the
population density of the area they live in?
• How does it affect their daily lives and what daily obstacles do they face?
Method
We interviewed the aunt, who wishes not to be named, and asked about
her phobia. We asked how it affects her self-esteem. She told us about
her many restrictions in her daily life. We also experimented with
students in our year groups. We tested to see how comfortable each
student felt in set distances to many people and individual people to
see if there was a difference. We then recorded all the results and
noticed a pattern.
Results
In the end, our results showed that the males that participated in our
experiment had a bigger personal space than the females. Taller people
had a smaller personal space on average compared to shorter people.
Personal space is the physical space surrounding someone into which
encroachment can feel threatening or uncomfortable.
Observation
One of our team member’s aunts has a very severe case of
claustrophobia. We started questioning if it began at childhood and if
it changed in relation to who was near him eg. Family and friend vs.
stranger’s. It acts as a disability for her at times as she cannot get
into elevators or public transport/bathrooms for the fear of going
into a panic attack due to overcrowding.
Hypothesis
We wondered if this was due to hygiene or just an irrational fear. We
wanted to find out whether it was set at childhood or whether it was
always a general phobia that worsened with age. We also wondered how
common it is and investigated the different factors that influence the
phobia. Our overall questions included;
• Does hygiene play a part?
• What affects the size of someone’s personal space?
• How is claustrophobia linked?
• What age is it set?
• Does the average amount of personal space differ in relation to the
population density of the area they live in?
• How does it affect their daily lives and what daily obstacles do they face?
Method
We interviewed the aunt, who wishes not to be named, and asked about
her phobia. We asked how it affects her self-esteem. She told us about
her many restrictions in her daily life. We also experimented with
students in our year groups. We tested to see how comfortable each
student felt in set distances to many people and individual people to
see if there was a difference. We then recorded all the results and
noticed a pattern.
Results
In the end, our results showed that the males that participated in our
experiment had a bigger personal space than the females. Taller people
had a smaller personal space on average compared to shorter people.