日：7/6/2011
Few days ago, I watched a drama named《读心神探》, something like psychology detective. The detective taught me about 空间关系学，or Proxemics. I Google it and collected some information, here wants to share with you all.
The ‘proxemics’ was introduced by an anthropologist (人类学家) Edward T.Hall in 1966. It is the study of measurable distances between people as they interact. Edward T.Hall proposed that:
“Like gravity, the influence of two bodies on each other is inversely proportional not only to the square of their distance but possibly even the cube of the distance between them.”
In the drama, the detective also taught that: when two persons (for example) are standing by each other, then we can estimate their relationship by just looking how far they are separated. Different distance for different people during interaction and it does reflect some meanings. According to Edward T.Hall, this was known as the Body Spacing （身体间距）, where social distance between people is reliably correlated with physical distance, according to the following delineations:
§ Intimate distance （亲密距离）for embracing, touching or whispering
§ Close phase – less than15 cm
§ Far phase – 15 to 46 cm
§ Personal distance （个人空间）for interactions among good friends or family members
§ Close phase –46 to 76 cm
§ Far phase –76 to 120 cm
§ Social distance （社会距离）for interactions among acquaintances
§ Close phase –1.2 to 2.1 m
§ Far phase –2.1 to 3.7 m
§ Public distance （公众距离）used for public speaking
§ Close phase –3.7 to 7.6 m
§ Far phase – 7.6 m or more
Edward T.Hall also introduced a diagram of personal reaction bubbles in 1966, which enable us to clearly understand the relationship between distance and the interaction.
Personal space（个人空间）is the region surrounding a person which they regard as psychologically theirs. Most people value their personal space and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached.
Simplified explanations about the diagram:
§ An intimate zone: reserved for lovers, children and close family members.
§ Personal zone: conversations with friends, to chat with associates, group discussions. (Permitting a person to enter personal space and entering somebody else's personal space are indicators of perception of the relationship between the people.)
§ Social zone: strangers, newly formed groups, and new acquaintances; and a fourth
§ Public zone: speeches, lectures, and theatre; reserved for larger audiences.
Another is the personal boundaries （个人界限）. It is the guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for him- or herself what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave around him or her. Personal boundaries include physical, mental, and spiritual boundaries， together they constitute "psychological boundaries". According to Nina Brown, there are four types of psychological boundary （心理边界）:
§ Soft - A person with soft boundaries merges with other people's boundaries and is easily manipulated.
§ Spongy - They permit less emotional contagion (情绪感染) than soft boundaries but more than rigid. People with spongy boundaries are unsure of what to let in and what to keep out.
§ Rigid - A person with rigid boundaries is closed or walled off so nobody can get close to him/her either physically or emotionally.
§ Flexible - The person decides what to let in and what to keep out, is resistant to emotional contagion, manipulation and is difficult to exploit.
So, the conclusion is that: if you want to know how good your relations are with your surrounding people, observe the separation distance. It does help a lot.
