An account of a research study carried out to determine if men and women have different requirements for personal space.
Written in 2008; 2,369 words; 6 sources; APA; $ 72.95
Paper Summary:
This paper presents a study carried out to determine whether or not there is a difference between the genders in regard to their requirements for personal space. It sets out the methods used and results obtained and includes a literature review on the subject.
"Gender falls under the personal category and the research has produced differing results about its affects on personal space. However according to Gifford (2002), "Generally, male-male pairs keep the largest distances ... followed by female-female pairs and male-female pairs" (p. 127). This is supported by many others such as Evans and Cherulnik who stated that "Past research, done largely with American college student Ss, has shown strong effects of sex composition on patterns of interaction in dyads. Female dyads interact at closer distances,2 with more eye contact3 and facing more directly,4 and women seem to have smaller personal space requirements" (1980, p. 139). However, Gifford also acknowledged that there are contradictory findings (2002, p127).
Gifford goes on to explain that socialization maybe one factor that explains the differences found in the sexes. This fits well with the Social Learning theory which has been utilized to explain the differences in personal space. This theory "asserts that personal space is a gradually learned behaviour resulting from an individual's history of reinforcement" (2002, p. 137). This begins to happen at a very early age so that "By the age of 3, children already stay further from boys than girls, a pattern that generally holds throughout life" (Gifford, 2002, p. 137). Gifford also found that at age 4 there were four rules that children tended to follow. The first one was that as mentioned earlier boys stand further apart than girls. The second was that people stand closer to people they know. The third is that people allow more distances during an informal setting. Finally, strangers sit farther away than usual in a formal while friends sit closer (2002, p. 137)."
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