September Item

Then this meme came as
a response to the Swedish
waiting for the bus. You see
the huge difference between
the pictures. Of course the
differences might also be due
to how busy a certain station
is, but it also depends
on culture if people are even
comfortable standing so close
to each other while waiting
for a vehicle.
Besides culture, there are some other individual parameters that
define how close you will be to the person you are having the
conversation with. These are:
- Degree of intimacy
- Social class
- Gender
- Age
However, it has been found that culture has a more important role
than al individual parameters together: between groups there are
more differences than within a group.
On average, European Americans have a conversational distance of
46-51 cm. With African Americans this distance is approximately
51-55 cm, Europeans tend to stand a little further from each
other with a conversational distance of 60-65 cm. In the Eastern
Asian cultures, the interpersonal distance while having a conversation
is among the biggest, with Thai having a conversational distance
of 80-85 cm and Japanese of 90 cm. In the Arabic world
people tend to stand really close to each other during conversations,
probably the closest of all cultures.
As you understand now, it mostly depends on your culture how
comfortable you are when someone comes standing next to you. If
you are from Asia, you might be much more uncomfortable standing
directly next to someone waiting for the bus than when you
are Arabic. This can also explain why we would feel uncomfortable
when an Arabic would come talk to us and stand directly next to
us while we do not even know him or her.
Because of this it is important to understand that people will not
always feel comfortable when you come up to them and stand next
to them. Some people will find you rude when standing to far from
them; others will find it uncomfortable when you stand to close to
them. Therefore, it is important to always feel for yourself what
you are comfortable with and look how comfortable another person
is with your presence. That way you can be still comfortable in
your own space and the other person in his or her space. Not invading
each other’s space will help you establish good relationships
with others while also being comfortable in your own space.