Personal Space Differences

 

Reading the article Personal Space Ownership I realized that no matter what is your culture we all have this monitor in our brains that keep us aware of the space around our bodies. Why do our minds focus on how close or far people are from us? People can have positive or negative emotions depending on how close you approach to them. Different cultures have distinct: intimate, friend, social and audience zones. Our zone distances may changes depending on where we are and the circumstances we are into.

Something that I learned in this article is that when our “air bubble” is invaded we get more anxious and want to protect our personal space. People may react in different ways depending on the situation.  If you want to approach to a person’s space or “air bubble” just be aware of the clues they reflect when you are talking, walking backward or toward them and some facial expression or gestures they do. This can be one the things we as future teacher must taught to our students in ESL classes. We may know about them and their personal space limits, but it is important that everyone feels comfortable in the class and have a good time learning without misjudging or misunderstanding each other

In conclusion, no matter where you from just keep distance. I don’t think that cultures have to improve or change their ways of approaching to each other or increasing and decreasing their “zone distance. If it has been like that for generations is because of specific reasons and purposes, to avoid misunderstanding, fights and misjudgments. But I agree on the fact that people should be more open minded about the different distances they keep with others. Some people may change, but others may not. If we want to make a change in our cultures and improve then we must start one person at a time.