SOP3004 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Marcus Feldman, Proxemics, Positive Force
Document Summary
Chapter 5: genetic influences explain roughly 50 percent of individual variations in personality traits. Shared environmental influences including the shared home influence account for only 0 to 10 percent of their personality differences. Much of it is peer influence: personal space is a sort of portable bubble or buffer zone that we like to maintain between ourselves and others. As the situation changes, the bubble varies in size. With strangers, most americans maintain a fairly large personal space, keeping 4 feet or more between us. On uncrowded buses, or in restrooms or libraries, we protect our space and respect others" space. Adults maintain more distance than do children. Men keep more distance from one another than do women. For reasons unknown, cultures near the equator prefer less space and more touching and hugging. Thus, the british and the scandinavians prefer more distance than the french and the.
