Why do people often feel anxious when other people become too close? Upon hearing Jerry speak of Edward T. Hall’s idea of proxemics I realized that subconsciously I have always known that this phenomenon occurred but just never realized that there had been studies done on it. I have always wondered why a person often becomes uncomfortable when another person (even more so when the person is not a close acquaintance) gets too close to them. I knew that there was an area that is considered “personal space”. I did not however realize that there were three other labeled spaces: intimate, social and public. The other thing I find interesting is that different cultures and countries have different standards of these spaces. An example of this is that people in Canada would be incredibly uncomfortable if someone was within one foot of them, while people in Japan are relatively comfortable even when others are within eight inches of their face. I believe this has something to do with the amount of people living in the particular area. I think that the people living within the areas with greater density populations would be more comfortable with people being in a closer vicinity.
~Trevor
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