Psychology Topic 6 Territory And Personal Space Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is the name of the key study and the 4 additional studies in topic 6 of environmental psychology
Wells
Smith
Hall
Middlemist
Sommer and Ross
What does the acronym stand for
Weird
Scientists
Hate
Making
Space
Key study- Wells
Additional studies-
Smith
Hall
Middlemist
Sommer and Ross
Outline the additional study bySmith on territorial behaviour on beaches
-field observation on different. Nationalities and how they compete for beach space
Outline the additional study by middlemist on personal space and invasions in urinals
investigated whether personal space invasions cause uncomfortable physiological arousal, at least among males.
The research was conducted in a mens lavatory at an american university. It had three urinals in it. When men came in to urinate a stooge would either occupy the urinal next to them (close distance) or the urinnal at the other end from them (moderate distance) or there would be no stooge at all (control condition)
Another researcher would be sat in the adjacent stall and through a periscope buried in a pile of books, would time how long it took for the participant to start urinating and also how long they urinated for
Results;
-at close distances the men took longer to start urinating and left sooner
Conclusion-personal space invasions have physiological arousal effects
outline the additional study by Hall on zones of persona space
based on an observation of white middle class Americans, Hall suggested that personal space cam be divided into four zones
-INTIMATE 0-1 1/2 feet, for intimate contacts such as comforting or sex, or physical sports (e.g wrestling)
-PERSONAL 1 1/2 - 4 feet, for contact between close friends as well as everyday interactions with acquaintances.
-SOCIAL 4-12 feet, for impersonal and business like contacts
-PUBLIC more than 12 feet, for formal contacts between an individual and the public
Hall also claimed that people from ‘contact’ cultures e.g Mediterranean and hispanic seem to prefer less interpersonal distance than people from non contact cultures like white Americans and Northern Europeans
outline the additional study by sOMMER and Ross on seating arrangements
they rearranged the seating in the newly decorated waiting room of a Canadian hospital from:
sociofrugal-in rows along the walls
To
Sociopetal-in small circular groups facing inwards
to promote social contact and overcome the depressing effect the waiting area has
Outline what is meant by personalisation in the key study by Wells
personalisation
-as the deliberate decoration or modification of an environment by its occupants to reflect identities
Outline what were the many research questions as part of Wells key study into the role of office personalisation in employee and organisational well-being
Research question?
- do men and woman personalise their workplaces differently?
- is personalisation of workplace associated with enhanced employee wellbeing?
-is personalisation more important to woman or men?
-is a businesses personalisation policy associated with organisation well being?
Outline the sample of Wells
338/661 replies from office workers
from: real estate agency, aircon firm and car dealership
all based in California
minimum of 15 employees
20/700 companies replied
Outline the procedure of Wells
Wells included surveys given to 338 office workers who answered questions on:
-workplace personalisation
-satisfaction with physical work environment
-job satisfaction
-wellbeing
-employee perception of organisational wellbeing
-personal traits (creativity)
-personal demographic information
As well as this interviews were done as a case study method
-tape recorded structured interviews
-10-15 minute interview
-workplace of interviewee inspected and photos taken
Outline the results from the key study by Wells on Office personalisation
-Woman personalise more than males 11.62 vs 7.68
-Woman use more items representing family and friends while men tended to use more achievements
-strong association between personalisation and job satisfaction
-qualitative data from the interview included the quote “just to look up to their faces makes it all worthwhile”
-Companies who are more lenient with workplace personalisation reported a more positive organisational climate, greater staff morale and less staff turnover
Outline the conclusions of Wells study into workplace personalisation
Workplace personalisation has many benefits for employees as well as employers. Wells did suggest
that caution should be taken when generalising the results and when looking at the cause and effect
nature of workplace personalisation
Outline three applications of what advice psychologists could give to employers about managing territorial behaviour in the workplace
-Allow workplace personalisation with no limits apart from stuff that could be socially sensitive. This can be shown by the key research in topic 6 that staff morale and absenteeism will both improve as a result of workplace personalisation
-seats in offices that were not desk space like the waiting area could be placed in a sociopetal way ( the waiting area having a circle of seats facing inwards towards each other to promote conversation and all that jazz. This can be shown by Sommner and Ross study into seating arrangements where they found out that the depressing effect was overcome by having this seating arrangement in a hospital waiting room
-undersand the cultural needs of territory of your employees. For example Smith showed us that Germans tend to claim more territory and therefore they may feel more vconfortable with a larger desk space
