Anthropology

Proxemics is the study of the distance people leave between themselves and others within various situations and in various cultures. In everyday life people distance themselves although it is a subconscious action. Proxemics was observed between the employees working in the radiology department of a local hospital. The observation took place throughout the whole department which included exam and procedure rooms as well as staff lounges and waiting rooms. The department is relatively small and does not allocate a large amount of space in between work environments. Gender, age, education, family background, and level of association are factors that determined the proxemics in the radiology department.

Gender does appear to help determine the amount of distance one employee will place between themselves and another employee. It appears as though the men will place themselves closer to women they find attractive. If the woman is not particularly attractive, the man will leave a wider gap between himself and her. For example, one male subject sat closer to a woman who was young and thin, while the same subject left a good distance between himself and the older, heavier woman. Men seem to leave an equal distance between themselves no matter what the situation is, unless there is a disagreement. One of the subjects was upset that he felt he was asked to do something not in his job description. He proceeded to discuss this with his supervisor, who was also a male. When the supervisor told him to just do the requested job, the subject became irate and closed the gap between himself and his boss. This gap remained closed until the disagreement was resolved. Women will also position themselves closer to men they find attractive. One female employee always hugs and gives backrubs to another male employee she finds attractive, while she is just polite to the other male employees. Women also appear to give an equal amount of room between themselves unless a disagreement arises, in which case, the gap closes considerably.

Age also does not seem to be a large factor in proxemics although in a few scenarios it appears as people with certain educational or family backgrounds will place themselves farther away from an older person out of respect. One male employee with a strong Hispanic family history appeared to place more room between himself and an older volunteer. The same employee appeared to be more relaxed and left a shorter distance between himself and the younger employees that were closer to his age group. After some questioning this employee stated that he has a strong cultural history and was taught that out of respect for elders, they are to be given more personal space. Education seems to play a small part in the determination of space between people of different ages. Younger employees, who are still in high school, do not seem to change the amount of space they place between themselves and any other person regardless of age. One such individual sat beside an older male employee and upon later observation sat about the same distance away from another younger female employee. It should be noted that this younger employee is currently in a strong, stable relationship, and the age conclusion is based on the assumption that he would not change his proxemics based upon attraction. This same idea was tested between a middle aged doctor and an older volunteer. The doctor, upon approaching the volunteer seemed to extend more space to her than he would one of the younger nurses. It appeared the doctor knew both the volunteer and the nurse equally, so association could not be a considerable factor in determining his distance. Between the two examples noted it might be concluded that the doctor, having a higher level of education would allow more distance than the high school student. Age as a whole does not seem to stand out in proxemics no matter what the association level was.

In the observation proxemics appears to be more reliant upon the association between two persons than on any other factor. In many instances employees who knew each other for long periods of time interacted closer than employees who were new. Employees also left more space between themselves and patients or family members due to the person being unknown to them. It appears