How are Americans typically different from other cultures in their “need for personal space”?

 Every culture has “rules” about the use of space. Using the material you learned from reading the articles in MOD #8—and additional research, if you need it (if so, always provide the citation)—answer the following two questions and attempt the experiment: • How are Americans typically different from other cultures in their “need for personal space”? Do Americans typically need more or less personal space? How do you know? Have you learned this difference from first-hand experience? What happened? • How does the amount of “personal space” an individual needs change depending on a particular context? For just one example—you tolerate strangers sitting very close to you on a rush hour ‘T’ ride but would be suspicious if a stranger tried to sit very close to you on an otherwise empty train. Explain. • EXPERIENCE: Try a simple experience – casually AND SAFELY step into someone else’s personal space. Who are they? Why did you choose them to try this experience? What happens? Why? What does your person say or do? o DO NOT DO THIS EXPERIENCE WITH A STRANGER!!! o Be sure to debrief your person (tell them WHY you were invading his/her space) after your experience is over. You must include the discussion of the debriefing in your final essay for full credit. EXPERIENCE #2: Riding in elevators Elevators provide a routine experience of ‘proxemics’ in action, especially if the elevator is crowed! Begin by reading the two articles on elevator etiquette in MOD #8. With this information at hand, ride 12 different elevators in as many kinds of places as possible. Try to ride the elevators a few of the times at busy times. (This project will not work if you only ride the elevator by yourself for all 12 rides!) Try standing in different places inside the elevator. What do you see? Are the articles correct? What behavior did you notice? Are you surprised at what you discovered? What kind of “small talk” to people make? Do you think some riders are rude? Why? What do you think is communicated by people’s behavior when they ride in elevators? DIRECTIONS FOR FINAL WRITE-UPS For Experience #1, first answer the general questions, and then describe your experience/debriefing. You will be evaluated on how complete and thorough you are in answering the questions and describing your experience, in addition to correct spelling and grammar. You will lose points for a vague essay lacking details, too lengthy an essay due to rambling or unfocused writing, or for having typos, spelling, and/or grammatical errors. For Experiment #2, describe your 12 experiences and what you observed. You will be evaluated on how complete and thorough you are in describing your experiences, in addition to correct spelling and grammar. You will lose points for a vague essay lacking details, too lengthy an essay due to rambling or other unfocused writing, or for having typos, spelling, and/or grammatical errors. FOR BOTH EXPERIENCES, provide a paragraph discussing what you have learned about communication in general from this specific experience. You will be evaluated on the completeness, thoughtfulness, and thoroughness of your evaluation;