‘ PERSGNAL SPACE REmmsms @F THREE-

AND FflUB-YEAR-QLD MALES AND FEMALES

THESIS ron 1m: DEGREE-0F M.A.
MICHtGAN STATE UNIVERSITY“

TYRA DE CARLO

, 1973

 

4m. _

 

ABSTRACT

PERSONAL SPACE RELATIONSHIPS OF THREE-
AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD MALES AND FEMALES

BY

Tyra De Carlo

The understanding of the development of personal
space and its use is essential to the understanding of the
broader concept of interaction. The question proposed in
this study was: To what degree are personal space norms
internalized by children 3 or 4 years of age?

The 72 subjects were 3- and 4-year-old white middle-
class children enrolled in two nursery schools in the East
Lansing area. These children were paired into same-sex
dyads in order that a direct observation of their proxemic
behavior be taken. The measures of proxemic behavior con-
sisted of the recording of the distance between the pair of
children and the angle (orientation) they maintained during
their interaction.

By using three projective techniques, PT I, PT II,
and PT III, an indirect measure of personal space was pro-
vided. These techniques were used to assess whether chil-
dren perceived a relationship between interaction distances
and degrees of acquaintance. The independent variables
were again age and sex. The dependent variable for PT I
was that set of figures chosen by children as friend,

acquaintance, or stranger. In PT II the dependent variable

Tyra De Carlo
was the distance the child placed figures identified as
friends, acquaintances, and strangers. In an attempt to
investigate the link between the direct and indirect mea-
sures, PT III involved the child's placing a self-referent
figure with a figure identified as his or her dyad partner.

As predicted, there was a difference between 3-
and 4-year-olds on the direct distances measure with
younger children standing further apart than older chil-
dren. Sex differences for the distance measure were found
to be significant at only the p < .07 level, with females
standing somewhat closer together than males.

Marginally significant (p < .07) age differences
were found for axis with 3-year-olds maintaining a more
direct orientation than 4—year-olds. No sex differences
were found in axis orientation.

Upon analysis of the data for PT I, it was found
that all groups of subjects perceived an inverse relation-
ship between placed dyad distance and degree of acquaint-
ance; thus, the dyad placed 1 inch apart was identified
most often as friend, the dyad placed 3 inches apart as
acquaintance, and the dyad placed 5 inches apart as
stranger. No age differences were found for PT I.

On the PT II task, which involved the child's plac-
ing of the figure for the given affect state, the children
performed differently than on PT I. Though an overall dif—
ference between distances placed existed, there was no

significant difference between friend and acquaintance;

Tyra De Carlo
stranger, however, was placed significantly more distant
from the other two. This perhaps relates to the signifi-
cant main effect (p < .007) found for age. Four-year-old
placements showed a distinct progressional pattern, while
3-year-olds showed no such pattern. No significant sex
differences were found in the analysis of PT I or PT II.

The correlation analysis between the data of PT III
and the actually observed distance data yielded a signifi-
cant (p < .05) but low correlation (r = .268) between these
variables.

In the development of personal space, age rather
than sex seems to be the crucial factor at this early age.
It appears that the period between age 3 and 4 is a very
important one; this is evident when the differences between
3- and 4-year-olds are examined.

The lack of sex differences parallels such findings
of other investigators, thus leading one to believe that
sex differences in the area of nonverbal behavior as well

as in other areas seem to be learned rather than innate.

PERSONAL SPACE RELATIONSHIPS OF THREE-

AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD MALES AND FEMALES

BY

\‘1 .7
Tyra De Carlo

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Family and Child Sciences

1973

To my father who has always given me
his support in both my personal and

professional endeavors.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the children of
the Michigan State COOperative Nursery School and the East
Lansing Lutheran Church Nursery School and their teachers,
Mrs. Elfes, Mrs. Rafter, and Mrs. Rahilly, for their kind
c00peration.

Also, I would like to thank my committee chairman,
Dr. Robert Boger, not only for the assistance and advice he
gave me on this thesis but also for allowing me to pursue a
program which was most suitable to my future aspirations.
In addition, I would like to thank the other members of my
committee, Dr. Lucy Ferguson and Dr. Don Melcer, for the
corrections and suggestions they made. My committee‘s
patience was also deeply appreciated.

My greatest appreciation and thanks are extended to
Jack Aiello for the hours he spent reading, editing, and,
most important of all, listening. His knowledge in the
area proved to be invaluable.

Additional thanks goes to my judges, Mollie McNutt
and Phil Knight, for their careful gathering of the data.
I also appreciate the work of Verda Scheifley, for her
assistance with the data analysis.

Finally, I would like to thank my mother and father
whose money and support made my education a reality.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Review of the Literature . . . . . . . . . 2

II. DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES . . . 27

Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . 27

Rationale and Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . 27

IV. METHOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Direct Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Indirect Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

V. RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The Direct Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Indirect Measure of Personal Space . . . . 41

VI. DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Implications for Further Research . . . . . 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

iv

Table

12.

13.
14.
15.
16.

LIST OF TABLES

Distance Notation Code . . . . . . . . . . .
Hall's Personal Space Boundaries. . . . . . .
Analysis of Variance for Distance . . . . . .
Cell Means of Distance Scores . . . . . . . .
Analysis of Variance for Axis Scores . . . .
Cell Means of Axis Scores . . . . . . . . . .

One-Way ChiHSquares of Degree of Acquaintance
scores I O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O

Two-Way Chi-Square of Age by Friend . . . . .
Two-Way Chi-Square of Age by Acquaintance . .
Two-Way Chi-Square of Age by Stranger . . . .
Means for Age by Repeated Measures of
Friend, Acquaintance, and Stranger

(PT II) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0
Mean Projected (Placed Distance) Scores

(in Inches) of Male and Female 3- and
4-Year-Olds for the Relationships of Friend,
Acquaintance, and Stranger . . . . . . . . .
Two—Way Chi-Square of Sex by Friend (PT I) .
Two-Way Chi-Square of Sex by Acquaintance . .
Two-Way Chi-Square of Sex by Stranger . . . .

Sample Correlation Matrix (PT III) . . . . .

Page
32
34
40
40
41
42

42
44
44

45

45

48
48
49
49
50

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Research in the area of child-child interaction is
sparse and often contradictory. Child-child interactions
are an integral part of the socialization process. Peer
interactions have effects not only on the verbal behavior
of the child but also on his nonverbal behavior. The non-
verbal aspects of these interactions provide dimensions
which are helpful in achieving an understanding of social-
ization and sexual identification. By studying these
child-child interactions we not only gain insight into the
interactions but also into the developmental process of
socialization.

Much of the literature has attested to male-female
behavioral differences but there seems to be some confusion
about the degree to which these differences are defined by
the age of 3 or 4, and how consistently preschool children
have internalized the very subtle nonverbal differences.
The purpose of this study is to assess to what degree per-

sonal space norms are internalized by ages 3 and 4. Age

and sex differences in the process will be examined as

well.

Review of the Literature

 

The earliest form of social interaction between
peers is play. There are three types of play, each occur-
ring at certain stages of development (Parten & Newhall,
1943). Children play in parallel rather than with one
another between the ages of 2 and 3. Following parallel
play, children then engage in associative play in which
they play games involving one another but each one being
concerned only with his own behavior. COOperative play,
where joint efforts are involved, appears rarely before the
age of 3 (Millar, 1968).

Two children when placed in a playpen together
between the ages of 6 and 8 months most often will pay no
more attention to each other than they do to the toys. By
9 months, however, the partner becomes more important.
Between the ages of 19 and 25 months social contact with
the partner predominates; from this point forward what one
child does extensively influences the other.

As children grow older, they become more capable of
cooperating with one another and learn to exercise more
influence over other children and to be influenced by other
children. Wolfe and Wolfe (1939) completed a study in
which a child was given candy if he influenced his partner
to pull a string. While older children accomplished this
by telling the partner what to do, 2—l/2-year-olds were
unsuccessful at accomplishing the task. Millar (1968),

referring to these findings, noted that the "ability to

3
talk, although it obviously helps, is not essential, so
long as some method of communicating with others has been
learned and the task is within compass [ability] [p. 180]."
Here we have the beginning of peer interaction.

The peer group affords the child an opportunity to
experiment with social behavior. He learns how to interact
with others of the same age, how to deal with his feelings
and the feelings of others, and how to relate to others
when he and they take on different roles. Most important
of all, the child develops a concept of himself. The peer
group may serve to strengthen or weaken old attitudes, or
establish new ones, depending upon how important the group
is to the child. Young children's peer groups are not usu-
ally characterized by stability (Hartup, 1970), and friend-
ships are often fleeting. However, the peer group from the
beginning facilitates the process of socialization by rein-
forcing sex type behaviors.

Sex typing begins at an early age and continues
throughout life. Mussen, Conger, and Kagan (1963) and
Jersild (1968) have shown that sex-role behavior is, in
fact, culturally determined. In our society, girls are
expected to be social, well-mannered, and neat, but fright-
ened of appropriate objects. They are also expected to
‘withdraw from problem situations. Boys, on the other hand,
are expected to be strong, courageous, assertive, and ambi-
tious (Kohn, 1959). It would seem to follow that parents

‘would begin to foster these behaviors at an early age.

4
Goldberg and LeWIS (1969) found sex differences between the
behaviors of l-year-olds. Each mother was placed in a
playroom with her child and observed. It was found that
girls made more physical and visual returns and also
touched their mothers more. Girls also spent more time in
closer proximity to their mothers, while boys spent more
time in the area farthest away from their mothers. These
behaviors most probably occur because they are reinforced
by the mother; but, in any case, it seems to indicate that
girls are more dependent than boys at this stage in devel-
opment. More will be said about dependency later.

By the age of 3, boys are more overtly aggressive
in play than girls (Millar, 1968). Sears, Maccoby, and
Levin (1957) found that the greatest difference demon-
strated by parents in the raising of boys and girls was in
the area of aggression. Mothers reported that they permit-
ted more aggressive behavior from boys when it was directed
toward the parent or outside the family, but there was no
difference in permissiveness when other siblings were the
target of aggression. Parents have a tendency to condone
overt aggression in males and to condemn it in females.
Because of this, males appear to be more directly aggres-
sive while females strike out verbally and in other indi-
rect ways (Feshbach, 1969; Sears, 1961). Females also show
more conflict over aggression and more anxiety concerning
aggression than males (Kagan & Moss, 1962).

Feshbach (1956) investigated the effects of

5
aggressive play on children's social interactions. Teach—
ers rated the children on the basis of high and low aggres-
siveness.) Children were randomly assigned to an aggressive
toy group, or a neutral toy group. The aggressive toy
group listened to stories with aggressive themes and played
with guns and soldiers while the neutral group was told
nonaggressive stories and played with nonaggressive toys,
such as farm toys. It was found that in activities which
were not a part of the play activity (social interactions)
aggressive responses occurred more frequently in the
aggressive toy group than in the neutral toy group. Boys,
who were initially rated low in aggression and who partici-
pated in the aggressive play sessions, showed an increase
in aggressive behavior. This study shows a direct correla-
tion between aggression and modeling. There is further
evidence-of a modeling effect when father presence or
father absence from the home is considered (Bach, 1946).
It was found that less aggression and less aggressive doll
play fantasies involving the father were evident for both
girls and boys whose fathers were absent from the home.
Sears, Pintler, and Sears (1946) and Sears (1951) discov-
ered that Bach's findings did not hold true when preschool
girls were involved. Although there was a difference in
aggressive doll play between the father-absent and father-
present boys' groups, no such difference occurred when
father-absent, and father-present girls were compared.

This may be true because females identify strongly with the

6
mother and father absence or presence has no effect on this
dimension. Interestingly enough, by age 5 the difference
between father-absent and father-present boys was not sig—
nificant. It is important to note that the greatest dif—
ferences occurred during ages 3 and 4. At this time the
father-absent boys performed in the same way as did the
girls, but by age 5 they seemed to have performed in the
same way as did the father-present boys. It is interesting
to note the differences in the Sears and Bach studies. If
there is indeed a difference as Sears found, there may be
some crucial differences in socialization occurring between
3 and 5 years of age.

Again we find contradictions in the literature.
Rothbart and Maccoby (1966) found that children are not
reinforced consistently for sex-typed behaviors by both
mother and father. Mothers tended to allow more aggression
toward themselves from boys, and were also more accepting
of comfort seeking from boys. These findings applied to
girls when fathers were considered. Rothbart and Maccoby
conclude, "In short, the sex of parent seemed to be a bet-
ter predictor of his differential responses to boys and
girls than does a sex-role stereotype [p. 242]." Rothbart
and Maccoby interpreted this to mean that perhaps social
learning is not the key. They go on to conjecture that
perhaps there is a biological component responsible for sex
typing or that the important factor in internalizing sex-

typed behaviors is reinforcement coming from outside the

7
home, such as from the peer groups. I feel, however, that
this may be a result of identification. The child may
learn more from observing his same sex parent than he does
from what that parent reinforces. Perhaps a girl learns
to react similar to her mother by observing her mother's
reactions to others, especially her father. If this is the
case, when she is a parent, she will relate as her mother
did to her son or daughter, while still remaining sex-
typed. Rothbart and Maccoby indirectly offer this explana-
tion by expounding upon possible causes of this Opposite
sex acceptance, same-sex rejection. They explain that the
parent is reacting to the child as he would to the opposite
sex partner, or that the same-sex child is rejected because
of feelings of rivalry or perhaps that the parent may be
punishing the child for those actions or thoughts he was
punished for.

There is much support for the observational model-
ing theory, and it is believed by many (Bandura & Walters,
1963; Campbell, 1961; Hebb, 1966; Mischel, 1966a, 1966b)
that the learning of sex-typed behaviors depends greatly
upon observational learning, and can therefore occur with—
out direct reinforcement. Bandura and Walters (1963) point
out the importance of these models:

A comparison of the results obtained with adult and
peer models revealed that children were more influenced
by the standard setting behavior and self-reinforcement
patterns exhibited by adults [PP. 179-180].

The implication is that children form their standards by

8
observing the adults, especially the parents, which sur-
round them and tend to imitate them. Bandura and Walters
further point out:
While playing with toys that stimulate imitation of
adults, children frequently reproduce not only the
appropriate adult role behavior patterns but also char-
acteristics or idiosyncratic parental patterns of
responses, including attitudes, mannerisms, gestures,
and even voice inflections, which the parents have cer-
tainly never attempted directly to teach [p. 48].
Observation, therefore, gives rise to the learning of non-
verbal behaviors. Perhaps in this way a child learns to
structure his personal space and peer interactions.
Children particularly imitate their same-sex par-
ent. Duhamel and Biller (1959) found that when given a
choice, kindergarten children will imitate their same-sex
parent, in both familiar and unfamiliar situations. More
boys than girls gave non-imitative (independent) prefer-
ences which Duhamel and Biller attributed to the fact that
our society fosters greater independent behaviors in boys.
Bandura and Huston (1961) place much importance on
the role of observational learning in identification:
The process subsumed under the term "identification"
may be accounted for in terms of incidental learning,
that is, learning that apparently takes place in the
absence of an induced set or intent to learn the spe-
cific behaviors or activities in question [p. 311].
Mussen and Parker (1965) extended this identification to
sex role identifications and found nurturance significantly
correlated with incidental imitative learning in females.

Others have also found a link between nurturance by same-

sex parent and sex-type behavior (Mussen & Distler, 1959;

Mussen & Rutherford, 1963).
Bandura and Mischel (1965) eXplored observational
learning further. They found that observing an adult model
facilitated the learning of delayed or immediate gratifica-
tion in fourth- and fifth-graders. They grouped children
according to the ability to delay receiving of rewards and
they had the adult confederate model the opposite reward-
receiving behavior. The results demonstrated that observa-
tional learning is intense enough to bring about a total
attitude change with children.
There is a wealth of literature attesting to the
strength of observational learning. Mischel (1970) sums up
the pervasive effects of observational learning with the
following:
Behaviors affected by exposure to models include such
sex-typed patterns as physical aggression, as well as
prosocial responses, psychotic syndromes, fears, and
even linguistic judgmental styles. By attending to the
verbal and nonverbal behavior of live or symbolic mod-
els, the observer also can change his own language, his
standards and social judgments [p. 30].

Sears, Rau, and Alpert (1965) put the effects of observa-

tional learning on sex typing into perspective.
A pervasive quality such as masculinity (or femininity)
receives at least some intentional reinforcement by
parents and peers, of course, by training tasks
required for creating this kind of role. Conforming
seems too great to permit an explanation in terms of
direct reinforcement of each of the components that
compose the roles [p. 2].

Many of the components of sex roles, therefore, must be

learned through observation of the same sex parent.

This sex role typing influences many behaviors.

10
Because it would be impossible to review the literature on
all of these characteristics, the author selected those
which apply to the specific problem of this study.

Brown (1956) found that by age 5, relatively
dichotomous sex role patterns exist. If indeed sex role
typing is present by age 5, and the nonverbal behavior has
also been sex-typed, what factor in socialization should
account for a male-female imitative difference or even a
precocity on the part of one sex? The research on this
subject is far from complete. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin
(1957) found that dependency itself facilitates imitative
learning. Dependency, therefore, may indeed be the key.
Each infant is born dependent. In order to survive, he
must have a caretaker. If his development is normal, he is
more dependent at this stage than he will be at any later
period in his life. Dependency, therefore, is a descending
rather than an ascending characteristic. This being the
case, it would seem that males and females would be born
equally dependent and if it were found later in life that
sex differences did occur then there may be some reason in
the socialization process that would account for these dif-
ferences.

Kagan and Moss (1960), in a longitudinal study,
found that passive and dependent behaviors were fairly
stable for females but not for males. It is pertinent to
the author's study that stability of the passivity rating

for children ages 3 to 6 and 6 to 10 was quite high in

11

boys, but not as high as it was for girls. Among females
there was also an inverse relationship between passivity
and adult conflict over dependency. There was, however, a
greater proportion of men, in comparison to women, who
shifted from dependency during childhood to independence
as adults. During a tachistoscope perception task, females
recognized those pictures dealing with dependency signifi-
cantly more rapidly than did males, and those pictures
dealing with aggression significantly later than did males.
Kagan and Moss explain this "weak perceptual hypothesis" in
males concerning dependent behavior as resulting from
dependent behavior being less acceptable in men and that
more conflict over dependency therefore results. This is
also supported by the fact that women who were dependent
upon their parents as children tended to be dependent upon
a love object rather than friends or authority figures as
adults, but men who were dependent upon their parents as
children were dependent upon friends and authority figures
rather than love objects as adults. This seems to suggest
the possibility that sublimation is occurring because, for
males, being dependent upon friends or authority figures
may be more acceptable than being dependent upon love
objects. In conclusion, Kagan and Moss state:

The differential stability of passive-dependent behav-

ior for men and women is probably the result of several

factors. However, one set of processes which may con-

tribute to this phenomenon is derived from the commonly

accepted hypothesis that passive and dependent behavior

is less punished in females than in males. Further,
females are often encouraged to be passive while men

12
are expected to be independent and autonomous in the
face of frustration. Parental and peer group punish-
ment for passive and dependent behavior should result
in some inhibition of this behavior in males. Thus,
we would not expect this class of behavior to be as
stable for men as for women. Studies of both overt
behavior and fantasy all indicate that dependent
responses are more frequent for girls than for boys
[pp. 584-585].

There are many aspects of dependency. One which is
very relevant to the author's study is proximity seeking.
Sears, Rau, and Alpert (1965) found a strong positive cor-
relation between "touching and holding" categories and
"being near" for girls. Rosenthal (1967), who called this
behavior proximity seeking, has also obtained similar
results with children. Sears et a1. (1965) found a ten-
dency among girls for attention seeking, physical closeness
or proximity seeking, and seeking comfort and reassurance
in nursery school to correlate with demands the child made
for attention from the mother. This was not true with
boys. 'Since the author used same-sex dyads it is interest-
ing to note that when dependent behaviors involved another
peer, it was a same-sex peer the child sought out.

Heathers (1955) found that attention seeking of one
child for another child or one child for an adult is similar
but that the proximity seeking of a child for another child
and of a child for an adult is not similar. The Sears et
al. (1965) findings also support this. Maccoby and Masters
(1970), in reporting these findings, claim:

. . . with respect to some behaviors--certain aspects

of proximity seeking versus play--there is justifica-
tion for looking upon child-mother interactions and

l3
child—child interactions as different behavioral sys-
tems. With respect to attention seeking there is not.
Let us underline some of the differences between these
classes of behavior. 1. Proximity seeking declines
with age, attention seeking does not; 2. Proximity
seeking is increased under fear arousal, attention
seeking is not; 3. Attention seeking is generalized
from adult targets to child targets, proximity is not;
4. By preschool age attention seeking is a part of a
behavioral cluster that involves not only asking for
help, attention and nurturance, but giving help, atten-
tion, and nurturance to others--it is part of a recip-
rocal interaction system and is positively related to
aggression and sociability as well. Proximity seeking
tends to be negatively related to all these things,
and is part of a different, more passive behavioral
cluster [p. 146].
There is no mention made of sex differences, but it is
interesting to have proximity described as being part of
a more "passive" behavioral cluster. In light of the Kagan
and Moss study, therefore, it would seem that there would
be more proximity seeking among females. The factor of
lack of generalizability from child-adult interactions to
child-child interactions is an interesting one. Willis
(1966) studied this by using a direct measure of proxemic
behavior. Willis found that parents stood as distant from
their children as their children did from strangers; the
"children" were of college age, however. Many studies, to
be discussed in a different section, have shown this is not
the case for peer-peer interactions; in these cases, sex
differences were indeed consistent with the adult popula-
tion.
As mentioned above, females remain more consis-

tently dependent than males. By this, I mean that males

appear to shift more completely to attachments outside the

14

family than females (Douvan & Adelson, 1966; Ferguson,
1970; Kagan & Moss, 1962; Stone & Church, 1968). This is
an essential concept for this study, since if sex differ-
ences are to be predicted, there must be evidence of them
from early life to adulthood. Ferguson (1970) summarizes
this female stability and gives possible reasons for its
occurrence.

While it is usual for girls to remain quite strongly

attached to their families and identified with parental

values even into adult life, a shift in allegiance to

peers seems to predict greater self-reliance and gener-

ally positive adjustment in boys. This is only one of

the many sex differences in the development of attach-

ment and its relations to other behavior systems. It
is certainly an oversimplification, but still a fair

fit with the overall trend of the data, to suggest that
the development of attachment and the generalization of
affiliative behavior in girls is more purely a matter
of positive reinforcement than it is for boys. In
boys, the detachment process is normally facilitated by

the more vigorous emergence of exploratory and aggres-
sive behavior, and there is a more marked shift in
middle childhood away from the primary object of
attachment, the mother, towards affiliative response
to peers. Overly "dependent" behavior in boys may thus
be more a function of interference with the development
of exploratory and assertive behavior than of the
strength of the attachment system [p. 75].
It thus seems as though females are more dependent on
parental figures and remain so throughout life. This
dependency may facilitate the learning of certain types of
behavior. In summary, sex differences in both verbal and
nonverbal behavior would seem to occur. The nonverbal
area of concern in this study is personal space. I will
now turn to the review of the literature concerning direct

and indirect studies of personal space.

15

Proxemic behavior. The systematic study of non-
verbal behavior in humans is a relatively new development.
Adequate summaries are provided by Argyle (1969), Duncan
(1969), Mehrabian (1969), and Sommer (1967), each of whom
emphasizes his own area of interest. My concern is specif-
ically with the area which Hall (1963) terms "proxemics,"
the study of how man unconsciously structures microspace.
Proxemics is synonymous with Little's (1965) term "personal
space" and Mehrabian's (1967) term "immediacy." In the

Silent Language (1959) and the Hidden Dimension (1966),

 

 

Hall has outlined the distance zones in man (see Table 2)
and has postulated cultural and subcultural differences in
man's structuring of space. Watson and Graves (1966) were
the first to test these hypotheses. They found large dif-
ferences between the handling of space by Arab and American
cultures as well as differences between geographical
regions within these cultures. Jones (1971), on the other
hand, found a cultural homogeneity among four lower-class
subcultures in New York City. Forston and Larson (1968)
found no evidence for the expectation that Latin American
students would sit closer to one another than American stu-
dents (but topic of conversation distorts this finding).
Willis (1966), on the other hand, found race differences
within the American culture. These results were all
obtained with samples of adults.-

The study of nonverbal behavior in children is less

developed. Few "direct observation" studies have been

16

completed. The aforementioned Willis (1966) study, where
parents were found to stand as distant from their children
as their children did from strangers, is one of these. A
later study by Fry and Willis (1970) was conducted with
children of ages 5, 8, and 10. The personal space of
adults was invaded in a public setting by the children
while observers recorded the reactions of the adults.
Five-year-old children received generally positive reac-
tions, 10-year-olds generally negative reactions, and
8-year-olds were often ignored. Fry and Willis concluded
that the capacity to elicit adult-like reactions in a spa-
tial invasion appears between the ages of 5 and 10.

Castell (1970) was interested in assessing the
effects of familiar and unfamiliar environments on the
proxemic behavior of young children. The variables mea-
sured were child-mother distance, child-child distance, and
child-child dominance in the two environments. Children
and their mothers were paired and observations were
recorded in the living room of each of their homes. The
results of these observations showed that the child in a
partially unfamiliar social and physical environment will
stay closer to his mother than will a child in a partially
unfamiliar social but familiar physical environment. The
decrease in children's proximity to their mother, as famil-
iarization with the environment took place, is accompanied
by a trend throughout the experiment to come closer to

one another. No significant differences were found in

l7
dominance.

Aiello and Jones (1971) adapted Hall's proxemic
notational code of distance and directness of shoulder
orientation (axis) to be able to systematically observe
interactions in natural surroundings. Observations of dis-
tance (in inches) and axis (using an 8-point compass-face
scale) of dyads were recorded by trained judges in a school
playground. First- and second-grade white, black, and
Puerto Rican children were employed to test Hall's asser-
tion of subcultural differences. White children were found
to stand significantly more distant than either black or
Puerto Rican children and white males stood significantly
more distant than white females. Blacks also stood sig-
nificantly less directly than whites. This latter finding
intrigued the authors and gave impetus to another study
(Jones & Aiello, 1973). To gain greater control of situa-
tion variables and communication content, the experimenters
devised a situation in which children were observed in
dyadic interaction by trained judges, while engaged in con-
versation about their favorite television programs. Large
axis differences were found for both culture and sex;
whites were more direct than blacks and females were con-
sistently more direct than males, at each grade level. For
distance, an interaction of grade and culture was found;
that is, while blacks became more and more distant with age
(having smaller distances than whites in the first grade),

whites did not show this pattern. Except for first-grade

18
white children, girls were consistently found to stand
closer than boys. Aiello and DeCarlo (1971) measured
axis and distance of dyads with a coding procedure further
refined from Aiello and Jones (1971). Subjects of the
study were 400 elementary, junior high, and high school
students paired in same-sex dyads at each of the first-,
third-, fifth-, seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade lev—
els. From the third grade on, girls were found to stand
more directly than boys and except for the third grade,
females were observed to stand more closely than males.

Indirect personal space behavior. A variety of

 

indirect measures have been used to explore the nature of
the structuring of personal space. Again, most of these
studies have adults as their subject population. Because
these studies are the antecedents of child studies, I will
summarize their findings first.

Kuethe (1962), the originator of the felt-board
projective technique, did a series of studies on social
schemata. Keuthe's technique requires individuals to free
place felt figures on a field or to replace felt figures
which had been previously placed. The physical distance
between the figures is interpreted as representing the
desired psychological distance. Direct front-facing fig-
ures were used.

In several studies, Kuethe (1962a, 1962b, 1964)
found a pervasive social schema or indication that certain

arrangements belong together. It was also found that

19
people were placed together and objects, when available,
were not placed in any way which intervened.

The Kuethe (1962b) study used only males. These
subjects showed a tendency to place child figures closer to
the woman (all were front-facing figures). When subjects
were asked to replace figures, the figures were placed
closer together than the_original placement. When using
both male and female subjects in a similar task, Kuethe
found the following sex differences: (1) females showed a
strong tendency to form separate male-female subgroups
(Kuethe explains this as a marriage orientation), and (2)
males tend to keep figures together but form pairs within.
a group. These sex differences do not include interaction
distance since front-facing figures were used.

Since Kuethe was interested in prevalent schemata
rather than distances, he makes no mention of differences
in distance placed. Higgins et al. (1969) found that male
undergraduates demonstrating poor social adjustment placed
the son closer to the father, while those displaying good
social adjustment placed the son closer to the mother.
Both groups placed the daughter closer to the mother.
Weinstein (1965), applying this concept to children, found
that emotionally disturbed boys placed child figures fur-
thest from the adult female. In a comparison between emo-
tionally disturbed and normal elementary school boys (Wein-
stein, 1965), the "normal" children placed child figures

closer to the female rather than male figure; the

20
emotionally disturbed children, however, again placed
females further from the adult female than from either an
adult male or peer figure.

Tolor (1970), using another technique called the
Psychological Distance Scale consisting of seven concepts,
found that the only concept that normal and disturbed
adults differed on was the distance placed in relation to
the mother figure. The emotionally disturbed adults placed
more distance between these figures than did normal adults.
Also, inpatients showed a more deviant behavior than out-
patients. These studies seem to support the Kuethe (1962a,
1962b) findings that a "normal" schemata associates mother
with child. This also points toward stereotyped socializa-
tion schemata.

Little (1965) was one of the first researchers to
use the profile technique. He also varied degrees of
acquaintance (friend, acquaintance, stranger) and used dif—
ferent settings. In the reporting of two free-placement
studies (one indirect and one direct), he.concluded that
degree of acquaintance had greatly influenced interaction
distances whether figures or real peOple were used. Inter-
action distances for friend were closer than those of
acquaintance and interaction distances for acquaintance
were closer than those of stranger. Setting affected
interaction distance of females, but not of males. Only
same-sex figures were used.

Tolor and Salafia (1971) used same-sex and

21
opposite-sex figures in a free-placement technique with
160 males in order to assess the relationship between
favorable characteristics and social schemata. Tolor con-
cluded that positive attributes aresulted in significantly
closer placement than did negative attributes. Mixed
pairs were placed closer than same-sex pairs.

Fischer (1968) used Kuethe's front-facing figures,
Little's silhouettes, some amorphous figures, and a rec-
tangle. No male-female differences were found when sub-
jects were asked to replace nonhuman figures. Males, how-
ever, replaced human figures closer together but females
did not. These results were attributed to the observation
that males viewed the placement figures more carefully. In
a post-experimental questionnaire, males reported having
tried to remember distances in inches. Females, however,
seemed to be more impulsive in placement; they paid little
attentionflto figures and placed them without studying them.

Tolor, Brannigan, and Murphy (1970) found evidence
of psychological distance having different meanings for the
sexes. Using the Psychological Distance Scale, the Future
Events Test, and Rotters Internal and External Scale, they
found no relationship between the Internal and External
Scale for males whereas with females there was a differ-
ence. Closeness to both Sister and Father was associated,
in the case of females, with an internal tendency (this
means that the subject expected reinforcement to be contin-

gent upon his behavior). In summarizing the differences,

22

they concluded:
Turning to possible reasons why males failed to demon-
strate the expected relationship between psychological
closeness and internality, it might be that for inter-
nal males the positive relationship with parents that
helped in the formation of such an adaptational style
is offset by the more masculine self-reliance that
characterized the adjusted male's role. Similarly,
those males who have developed an external attitude
because of negative (e.g. inconsistent or controlling)
aspects of their former parental relationship, might
also have grown more dependent upon and therefore
closer to parents. Since the cultural expectation for
adjusted (more internal) females does not require their
drawing apart from their parents as is the case of
males, females' responses on the PDS might provide a
culturally more uncontaminated response than that of
males [p. 292].

Thus, we have the adult indirect findings.

These findings stimulated curiosity and further
studies began using children in order to explicate the
developmental process involved. The findings of these
studies can be divided into two areas: (1) whether or not
children do indeed perceive a relationship between inter-
personal distance and degree of liking, and (2) male-female
differences in this perception.

Guardo (1969), modifying Little's indirect method
for use with sixth-graders, found a relationship between
psychological closeness and physical distance. As degree
of acquaintance decreased, distance increased; thus, an
inverse relationship was obtained. This was true for a
placed and free-placed method. Guardo also discovered that
girls, more than boys, placed significantly less distance

between their self-referent figures and depicted friend,

and between representations of those they like very much.

23
Boys, on the other hand, placed themselves closer to
threatening peers than girls. These results were explained
in terms of sex-apprOpriate behavior. This began a series
of studies by Guardo and others in an attempt to understand
the development of personal space in children.

Meisels and Guardo (1969), using males and females
in the first through the tenth grades, found an inverse
relationship between amount of distance and degree of lik-
ing and degree of acquaintance to be established as early
as the third grade. Children were found to use less space
as they grew older, and in positive and neutral affect
situations both sexes placed themselves closer to same-sex
peers in earlier grades and to Opposite-sex peers in later
grades. Females used more space than did males in negative
affect conditions with both sexes and neutral-negative
affect situations with the opposite sex. Guardo and
Meisels (1971) further analyzed these data and concluded
that girls have very similar personal space schemata across
grade level, though patterns were more highly schematized
for older girls. Boys, however, showed a developmental
trend in spatial schemata across age with older boys having
clearer patterns, while younger boys responded to cues of
specific situations. Males were also more affected by the
stimulus figure's sex. These findings led Guardo and
Meisels to conclude that "this may reflect the earlier and
possibly greater feminine sensitivity to social condition-

ing, at least in the spatial realm of behavior [p. 1310]."

24
Females, therefore, seem to exhibit a precocity in this
area.

Bass and Weinstein (1971) studied the interpersonal
distance of Canadian 5- to 9-year-old children, when set-
tings were varied. They extended Guardo's lower limit by
discovering that 5-year-old children have acquired schema-
tized interpersonal distance behavior. No sex differences,
however, were found. Males also showed a greater distance
between friend and stranger in all situations, unlike the
Guardo and Meisels and Guardo studies. Kindergarten chil—
dren used the smallest amount of distance. The tendency to
use less space continued to grade 2, then there was a sharp
rise in distance between figures designated as friends. At
grade 3 there was a smaller amount of distance used than at
grade 2. They supported the Meisels and Guardo finding that
younger children stay closer in same-sex pairs than do older
children. The mean spatial distance for stranger was sig-
nificantly greater for all settings (grades) than for
friend. The discrepancies in these findings may be due to
the age difference of the subjects or perhaps a cultural
difference between American and Canadian children.

Estes and Rush (1971), in a developmental study
using front-facing figures similar to those of Kuethe,
found no sex differences in placement schemata for children
3 through 15 years of age. An age difference was found,
however, in the set of figures using a woman and a man.

The younger children showed no preference while the older

25
children preferred the male to be in the middle. The chil-
dren did not place the child closer to the woman, as did
the adults in the Kuethe study, but they did place the
child next to the woman.

Baxter and Phelps (1970), using a doll placement
with black lower-class preschool children, found relatively
stable schemata at this early age. Sex differences were
found in this case, which seem to support Guardo and
Meisels (1971) and Meisels and Guardo (1969). Males' abil-
ity to understand spatial arrangement increased with age,
while the females' ability seemed to be accelerated from
the beginning. Using this to explain a lack of change in
female behavior, they state: "If this were the case, the
age range utilized in the present study would have been too
advanced to span a period of primary develOpment of these
schemata in girls [p. 12]."

This concludes the review of the literature.

Though many contradictions are apparent, male and female
deve10pmental sex differences seem to appear in many areas

at an early age.

CHAPTER II

DEFINITIONS

Because the reader may not have previously encoun-
tered certain terms used in the text, the author will, in
this section, provide definitions of these terms.

Proxemics. "The study of how man unconsciously

 

structures microspace [Hall, 1963, p. 1003]."

Proxemic behavior. In this thesis, it refers to

 

the interaction distance between dyads as determined by
measuring the distance and axis components of the inter-
action.

Interpersonal distance. The closest distance

 

between the torsos of the children at the time of record-
ing. Measures were taken in arm lengths rather than inches
and recorded using the scale shown in Table 1.

Axis. A scale for measuring the angle of interac—
tion. This scale is analogous to a clock where "0" is a
-direct face—to-face orientation.

Personal space. "The area immediately surrounding

 

the individual in which the majority of his interactions
with others take place [Little, 1965, p. 237]." The reader
should note the author's synonymous use of personal space

and proxemic behavior.

26

CHAPTER III

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES

Statement of the Problem

 

The purpose of this study, as stated previously,
was to analyze to what degree personal space norms are
internalized by ages 3 and 4, with critical variables being

age and sex.

Rationale and Hypotheses

 

To meet these objectives, a direct and indirect
measure of personal space was used. Using the direct find-
ings of Aiello and De Carlo (1971), Aiello and Jones
(1971), and Jones and Aiello (1973), concerning the direct
measure of proxemic behavior, and the findings of Douvan
and Adelson (1966), Ferguson (1970), Kagan and Moss (1960,
1962), Rosenthal (1967), Sears, Rau, and Alpert (1965), and
Stone and Church (1968), concerning sex differences in
proximity seeking and dependency, the hypotheses involving
direct measures of proxemic behavior were as follows:

Hypothesis I: There will be a difference between
males and females concerning interaction distance.

 

Hypothesis II: There will be a difference between
males and females in axis orientation.

 

Because the findings of Kagan and Moss (1960),

27

28
Millar (1968), Pintler and Sears (1946), Sears (1951), and
Wolfe and Wolfe (1939), concerning age difference in play,
dependency, and passivity; and the findings of Aiello and
De Carlo (1971), Baxter and Phelps (1970), Estes and Rush
(1971), Fry and Willis (1970), Guardo and Meisels (1970),
and Meisels and Guardo (1969), concerning personal space,

the following hypotheses concerning age differences in the

1.]

direct measure of proxemic behavior were generated:

Hypothesis III: There will be a difference between
3- and 4-year-olds in distance.

 

Hypothesis IV: There will be a difference between .
3- and 4-year- -olds in axis. Em;

 

 

It should be noted that previous studies of proxe-
mic behavior used an older subject population. Though from
this literature there appears to be some observed differ-
ences, directional hypotheses would be premature at this
time.

Previous studies using indirect measures (Bass &
Weinstein, 1971; Baxter & Phelps, 1972; Estes & Rush, 1970;
Guardo, 1969; Guardo & Meisels, 1970; Meisels & Guardo,
1971) have discovered that children, even very young chil-
dren, demonstrate a schematized use of personal space.
Along with this seems to come an inverse relationship
between the amount of space used and the degree of
acquaintance. Due to these findings, the following hypoth-
eses were prOposed:

Hypothesis V: Subjects will equate closer distance
with a greater degree of acquaintance when a placed

 

29

projective task (PT I) is used, such that closer
distances will be equated with greater degrees of
acquaintance.

H othesis VI: In a free-place projective task

PT II) there will be a difference in distance
placed between figures identified as friend,
acquaintance, and stranger for subjects, such that
an inverse relationship between distance and degree
of acquaintance will exist.

 

Developmental studies (Aiello & De Carlo, 1971;
Bass & Weinstein, 1971; Estes & Rush, 1971; Guardo &
Meisels, 1971; Meisels & Guardo, 1969) have shown that
children use space differently at different ages. The
author, therefore, hypothesized:

Hypothesis VII: There will be a difference in per-

formance in the placed projective task (PT I), such

that 4-year-olds will more consistently equate

smaller distances with greater degrees of acquaint-

ance and greater distances with lesser degrees of
acquaintance than will 3-year-olds.

 

Hypothesis VIII: Three- and 4-year-olds will differ
on the free placement projective task (PT II), such
that 4-year-olds will more frequently display an
inverse relationship between degree of acquaintance
and distance placed.

 

The author was also interested in exploring ques-
tions which could not be framed into hypotheses because of
the paucity of research pertaining to these questions, or
the unresolved contradictions in the literature. These
questions are:

1. Will sex differences exist for the categories of
friend, acquaintance, and stranger in distance
placed (PT II) and for consistency of ranking
(PT I)?

2. Will there be a high correlation between the

actual distance observations of pairs and the
projected distance of these pairs?

K... -

 

CHAPTER IV

METHOD

Subjects [.7

The 72 subjects were 3- and 4-year-old white mid-

.i..'_‘

dle-class children enrolled in two nursery schools in the

East Lansing area. These subjects were paired into 36

l~4flfm?'.ufi ' TA .._
l

same-sex dyads consisting of eight dyads of 3-year-old
females, eight dyads of 4—year-old females, eight dyads
of 3-year-old males, and 12 dyads of 4-year-old males, in
order that the direct measure of proxemic behavior could be
taken. The subjects were previously paired by the teacher
who was instructed to form neutral dyads, that is, children
who were not the best of friends or continually at odds
with one another.

Due to absences following the direct measure, 68 of
these 72 subjects were administered the projective measures.
Each child was administered the projective techniques indi-

vidually.

Direct Measures

 

A direct measure of proxemic behavior involving
personal observation of distance and axis was one of two

principal measures. The scales used to measure proxemic

30

31

behavior were adapted from those described by Hall (1963)
and Jones and Aiello (1973) and the same as those used by
Aiello and COOper (1972). According to this procedure,
interpersonal distance is defined as the closest distance
between the torsos of the children at the time of record-
ing, and is measured in terms of arm length rather than
inches or feet. Each unit has a representative score
which is presented in Table 1.

Hall describes axis according to an 8-point scale
which is circular, with a score of "zero" representing a
head-on, face-to-face position, a "four" being a side-by—
side interaction position with both persons facing in the
same direction, and an "eight" being a back-to-back posi-
tion. Aiello and Jones (1971) found this system inappro-
priate when dealing with children since there was a cluster
of results between zero and two. Because of this, a 25-
point scale was prOposed and used in Jones and Aiello
(1973). This scale is analogous to a clock, where, for
example, a "zero" is a direct, face-to-face interaction, or
12 o'clock. When one employs the 25-point scale, discrimi-
nations can be much finer Since half positions can be used.
In other words, we have a clock with 25 positions rather
than 12, each position forming a lS-degree angle with the
one before. According to this notation, a side-by-side
position then becomes a 12, and a back-to-back a 24.

Six judges were trained during ten 2-hour-long

training sessions. The judges began making practice

32

TABLE 1

DISTANCE NOTATION CODE

 

 

Description Score
Bodies touch (torsos) 10
Just outside torso touching distance 20
Plus a little (short of complete forearm) 30
Forearm touching body 40
One arm's length = just outside forearm touch 50
Two forearms = just outside one arm's length 60
Two forearms plus a little 70
One arm's length and a forearm = one reach to body 80
One arm's length, a forearm plus a little = one
reach plus a little 90
Two arm's lengths touch = one reach, a forearm
plus a little 100
Two arm's lengths plus a little = one reach and
an arm's length touch 110
One reach, an arm's length plus a little 120
Two reaches touch 130
Two reaches plus a little 140

 

 

33
judgments during the second session. Each session which
followed consisted of the judges taking distance and axis
scores. Judgments were first made at 20-second intervals;
as judges became more skilled in handling the code, the
intervals were decreased to 10 seconds. In the beginning,
the judges were asked to record the distance and axis
scores of a dyad which was standing still; later they were
asked to make judgments on a dyad which continued to inter-
act and which did not become immobile.

Anticipating the difference in heights that would
occur in the field, the judges practiced making judgments
of dyads of different heights. In cases of height differ-
ence, the judges considered the average height of the dyad
in order to reach a conclusion. Concerning these measures,
the judges at no time were aware of the hypotheses of the
study.

Before beginning data collection, two boys were
observed while interacting, judgments were recorded, and
reliability checked. During additional training sessions,
the judges were paired off to act as same-sex dyads as one
judge observed and made judgments. The field environment
and procedure were simulated at this time.

The reliability of the judges was calculated after
each session to see how consistent the judgments were
between judges. Upon completion of the last training ses-
sion, inter-judge reliability had reached .95. At this

time the judges were ready to collect the data.

34

Indirect Measures

 

An indirect measure of personal space was provided
through the development of two projective techniques.
These were adapted by the author from Kuethe (1962a),
Guardo (1969), and Guardo and Meisels (1970). The specific

projective device used to assess the use of personal space

in children was a light blue felt board measuring 35" x 24".

The board contained two black structures on each side rep-
resenting buildings, and a strip of black felt across the
bottom, which camouflaged a tape measure, representing the
ground. Three pairs of black silhouette figures, repre-
senting girls or boys, depending on the subject's sex, were
used to represent interactants.

The first projective task (PT I) consisted of one
same-sex face-to-face dyad placed 1 inch apart, one 3
inches apart, and one 5 inches apart, placed on the above—
described felt board. The space between the dyads remained
constant, each inch represented a foot. These measures
were scaled to fall into the middle of each of Hall's three

Personal Space Boundaries (Table 2).

TABLE 2

HALL'S PERSONAL SPACE BOUNDARIES

 

 

 

Intimate Casual Social.
personal consultative
(inches)
Close phase 0 — 6 18 - 30 48 - 84

Far phase 6 - 18 30 - 48 84 - 144

 

WG-5” A.-

35

The dyad placed 1 inch apart, therefore, was to
represent the affect state friend, and was coded as a num-
ber l; the dyad with 3 inches between, in turn, represented
that of acquaintance and was coded as 2; and the final
dyad, placed 5 inches apart, represented stranger and was
recorded as 3. The dependent variable in PT I was that
dyad, represented by the given numbers, chosen as a friend,
the one chosen as an acquaintance, and that chosen as a
stranger. The space between dyads remained constant.

Projective Task II (PT II) was a free-place task
where a same-sex silhouette figure was placed on the board,
containing the buildings and the ground. Every child was
asked to free place each of three self-referent figures,
representing a friend, acquaintance, or stranger, according
to a prearranged random schedule. The dependent variable
in this case was distance placed between the figures. Dis-
tance was measured to the nearest eighth of an inch.

Projective Task III was also a free-place task. In
this case, the board contained one figure which represented
the child who served as the dyad partner in the direct mea-
sure. The child was asked to place a self-referent figure
as he would stand to speak with the child represented.
Again the dependent variable was distance measured to the
nearest eighth of an inch.

The independent variables in all three tasks were

age and sex of the subject.

36

Procedure

 

Direct measures. Each dyad was escorted into a

 

12' x 12' room. The subjects were introduced to the judge
by the author who then left. The judge, who was seated at
a table, then said to the pair: "I would like you to talk
to each other about your favorite (the one you like best)
television programs and decide which one you like the best.
I will be busy here [the judge was seated at a table] for a
few minutes, so if you go over there [pointing to an area a
few feet from the table], I will call you when I am done."
At this time the judge recorded distance and axis, every 10
seconds, recording at least six interactions. The children
were then called over and asked their decision. If they
did not interact long enough for six judgments to be taken,
they were told to return and decide upon their favorite
commercial. The dyad was then taken into another room
where all children remained until the entire class was
observed; they then returned to the nursery school area.

Indirect measures. Each subject was brought by the

 

author into a room which contained a table with the previ-
ously described felt board propped upon it, the child was
seated, and PT I was administered. Each subject was then
told, "Now we are going to play a game. These are six
girls [or boys]. This one [pointing to the first] is talk-
ing to this one [the second], this one is talking to this
one [the third to the fourth], and this one is talking to

this one [the fifth to the sixth]." Each subject was then

37

asked "which two do you think are friends (someone you know
well, someone you play with), which two do you think are
acquaintances (girls or boys that know each other a little
bit but not very well), and which do you think are strang-
ers (someone you never met)?" The order of these questions
was changed for each subject to assure that subjects were
not merely choosing straight across the board. Care was
taken not to give any clues, verbal or nonverbal. The
child was told that there was no right or wrong answer, and
at the end of each choice no reinforcement was given to the
child for his or her decision. Each answer was recorded
by placing the number representing the dyad chosen (1 for
1 inch, 2 for 3 inches, and 3 for 5 inches) under the rela-
tionship title.

All the figures were removed from the board, and PT
II began. One figure was placed on the board the the exper-
imenter said, "This is your friend; where would you stand to
talk to him?" The child then free-placed the self-referent
figure on the board next to the one already there. Then
another figure was placed on the board with the first two
figures remaining, and the experimenter then asked the sub-
ject where he or she would stand to speak to an acquaint-
ance. The subject again placed a self-referent figure.
Finally, another figure was placed on the board with the
four remaining and the subject was asked to place the self-
referent figure where he or she would stand to speak to a

stranger. The order in which the questions were asked was

38

nmdom, and each term was again defined as before. The

mmject was told that he or she would be called back "to

gflay the rest of my game later." The child then returned

mathe classroom. The felt strip which represented the

ground was removed, and the distances were measured, using

the tape measure attached to the board, to the nearest

eighth of an inch.
After all subjects had completed these tasks, each

child was called back into the room and given PT II. When

they entered the room, the board contained one figure to

the extreme left of the board. The child sat down in the

same chair and was given a felt figure (representing the
sex of the child) and was told that we would pretend the

figure on the board was the other member of his dyad in the

direct measure, stating the child's name. The subject was

then asked to pretend the felt figure was himself and the

(experimenter asked, for example, "Where would you stand to

'talk to Tommy?" The subject was then told that he or she

cxould return to the classroom. The distance was again

measured to the nearest eighth of an inch.

 

CHAPTER V

RESULTS

The Direct Measure

 

Distance. A two-way analysis of variance, which
was performed with the variables being sex and age, gave
some support to Hypothesis I, which stated that there would
be a difference between males and females in distance.

This was significant at p < .07. A nearly significant
interaction effect was found between sex and age (p < .09).
Because this effect was not significant at the recognized
.05 level, a Simple Effects test (Winer, 1966) was not per-
formed; however, it appears from an inspection of the means
that 3-year-old males interacted at further distances than
4-year-old males and 3- and 4-year-old females (see Table
4).

As can be seen in Table 3, a significant main
effect was found for age (p < .01). This supports Hypoth-
esis III, which stated that there would be a difference
between 3- and 4-year-olds in distance. It can be seen
from Table 4 that 3-year-olds stand further apart than do
4-year-olds.

Axis, Using the adapted 25-point scale for measur-
ing axis orientation, no significant sex difference or

39

 

i.’

40

TABLE 3

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR DISTANCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source SS DF MS F
Age 996.102 1 996.10 6.85**
Sex 528.641 1 528.64 3.63*
A*B interaction 434.011 1 434.01 2.98
Error 4655.630 32 145.49
Total 6614.384 35
*p < .07.
**p < .01.
TABLE 4
CELL MEANS OF DISTANCE SCORES
Age of Sex of interactants
- Sex
interactants Male Female combined
Three years old 49.2411 34.4062 41.8237
n = 8 n = 8 n = 16
Four years old 31.5057 30.7747 31.2133
n = 12 n = 8 n = 20
Age combined 38.5998 32.5905
n = 20 n = 16

 

41
interaction effect was found. Thus, Hypothesis II, which
stated that there would be a difference between males and

females in axis orientation, was not supported (Table 5).

TABLE 5

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR AXIS SCORES

 

 

 

Source SS DF MS F
Age 12.981 1 12.98 3.52*
Sex .833 l .83 .23
A*B interaction 1.454 1 1.45 .39
Error 118.044 32 3.69
Total 133.312 35
*p < .07.

There was, however, a marginally significant main effect
for age (p < .07) , which lends support to Hypothesis IV,
which stated that 3- and 4-year-olds would differ in axis
orientation (Table 6). It was found that 3-year-olds main-
tained a more direct orientation than 4-year-olds.

To ascertain whether a relationship exists between
the proxemic variables of distance and axis, a correla-
tional analysis was performed between these data. No sig-
nificant relationship was found between these variables

(r = -.04).

Indirect Measure of Personal Space
The results of PT I were analyzed using three

one-way chi-squares with the variable being degree of

TABLE 6

CELL MEANS OF AXIS SCORES

 

 

 

 

 

 

Age of Sex of interactants S mb‘ d
interactants Male Female ex co ine
Three years old 2.5446 1.9275 2.1861
n = 8 n = 8 n = 16
Four years old 3.3561 3.4552 3.3957
n = 12 n = 8 n = 20
Age combined 3.0315 2.6414
n = 20 n = 16
TABLE 7
ONE-WAY CHI-SQUARES OF DEGREE
OF ACQUAINTANCE SCORES
l 2 3
Friend 4O 13 15 n = 68
E = 22.667
x2 = 19.966
df = 2
a = .001
Acquaintance 15 43 10 n = 68
E = 22.667
x2 = 27.911
df = 2
a = .001
Stranger 13 12 43 n = 63
E = 22.667
x2 = 27.472
df = 2

.001

 

 

4’

 

43

acquaintance. The first of these pertained to the category

fritnui,‘with the null hypothesis stating that an equal num-

‘ber'cxf children will choose one, two, and three as friend.
This analysis was repeated, substituting acquaintance and

stranger category frequencies for degree of acquaintance.

As can be seen in Table 7, in all three cases the null

hypothesis was rejected with a chance probability of (p <

.001). Upon inspection of the frequencies, it was found

that friend was chosen most often as position 1 (1 inch),

acquaintance as position 2 (3 inches), and stranger as

position 3 (5 inches). This finding supports Hypothesis V,

which stated that subjects would equate closer distance

with greater degree of acquaintance.

When a two by three chi-square was performed on the
PT I data (Tables 8-10) with age and position chosen as
friend, acquaintance, and stranger as the variables, no

significant age differences were found. No support was

given to Hypothesis VII, which stated that there would be
a difference between 3- and 4-year-olds in the placed task
(PT I), such that 4-year-olds would more consistently
equate smaller distances with greater degrees of acquaint-
ance and greater distances with lesser degrees of acquaint-
ance.

Hypothesis VI stated that in a free-place projec-
tive task (PT II) there would be a difference in the dis-
tance placed between figures identified as friend,

acquaintance, or stranger for subjects, such that an

 

44

TABLE 8

TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF AGE BY FRIEND

 

Frequency of position

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Age chosen as friend Total N
1 2 3
Three years old 15.00 8.00 9.00 32
Four years old 25.00 5.00 6.00 36
Total 7 68
(I = ()1
df = 2
C = 9.210
x2 = 3.569
TABLE 9
TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF AGE BY ACQUAINTANCE
Frequency of position
Age chosen as acquaintance Total N
l 2 3
Three years old 9.00 18.00 5.00 32
Four years old 6.00 25.00 5.00 36
Total 15.00 43.00 10.00 68
G = .01
df = 2
C = 9.210

1.509

 

 

 

 

45

TABLE 10

TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF AGE BY STRANGER

 

Frequency of position

 

 

 

i7?—

 

 

Age chosen as stranger Total N
l 2 3
'Fhree years old 8.00 6.00 18.00 32
Four years old 5.00 6.00 25.00 36
Total 13.00 12.00 43.00 68
a = .01
df = 2
C = 9.210
x2 = 1.602
TABLE 11
MEANS FOR AGE BY REPEATED MEASURES
OF FRIEND, ACQUAINTANCE, AND
STRANGER (PT II) (n = 68)
A e l 2 3
g Friend Acquaintance Stranger
Three years old 6.85 5.55 6.28
Four years old 3.29 4.42 7.36
All subjects 4.96 4.95 6.85

 

 

 

46
inverse relationship between distance and degree of
acquaintance would exist. This was tested by using a mul—
tivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures, with
the nu11.hypothesis stating that there will be equal dis-
tances placed between the figures identified as friend,
acquaintance, and stranger. The null hypothesis was
rejected with a chance probability of p < .02, thus sup- fr.
porting the first part of Hypothesis VI which predicted a
difference. Upon inspection of the cell means, however, it

was found that there was no significant difference in dis-

 

A‘F— .

tance placed between friend and acquaintance. Stranger,

however, was placed significantly more distant (see Table
11).

Because of the finding obtained from the analySis
relating to Hypothesis VII, that 3-year-olds free placed
self-referent figures indiscriminately while 4-year-olds
showed a distinct pattern, a 2 x 3 multivariate analysis of
variance using repeated measures (friend, acquaintance,
stranger) was performed. It can be seen in Table 11 that a
significant interaction of age by the repeated measures of
friend, acquaintance, and stranger (p < .01) exists. Four-
year-olds showed a distinct trend of friend being placed
closer than acquaintance, and acquaintance being placed
closer than stranger; 3-year-olds, however, appeared to be
relatively indiscriminate in their placements. The absence
of a trend in the 3-year-olds would account for not finding

an.inverse relationship between distance placed and degree

47
of acquaintance.

PT II data were further analyzed by using a multi-
'variate analysis of variance with an age and sex design
(Table 12). There was a significant (p < .007) main effect
for age (Table 11). Upon inspection of the means, a trend
is found with 3-year-old males and females being indiscrim-
inate in their placements but 4—year-olds displaying a
definite pattern with friend placed closer than acquaint-
ance, and acquaintance placed closer than stranger.
Hypothesis VIII was thus supported. No interaction was
found (p < .59) between age and sex, thus allowing the
examination of age and sex effects separately.

No significant sex differences on the variables of
friend, acquaintance, and stranger (p < .32) were found in
the analysis of either PT I or PT II (Tables 12-15). Males
and females therefore performed equivalently on both tasks.

An analysis was run to get an estimate of the rela-
tionship between the direct and indirect measures. There
was a relationship, with the correlation coefficient, r =
.268, which is significant at the p < .05 level. A sig-

nificant correlation between the direct and indirect.mea-

sures was thus found (Table 16).

 

F"

 

 

48

TABLE 12

MEAN PROJECTED (PLACED DISTANCE) SCORES (IN INCHES)
OF MALE AND FEMALE 3- AND 4-YEAR-OLDS FOR THE
RELATIONSHIPS OF FRIEND, ACQUAINTANCE,

AND STRANGER (n = 68)

 

 

 

Sex (yggis) Friend Acquaintance Stranger P‘mw‘
Male 3 6.78 5.47 6.57
Female 3 6. 94 5. 65 5. 90
Male 4 3.53 5.42 9.48
Female 4 2.95 3.01 4.38 (

All subjects

 

TABLE 13

TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF SEX BY FRIEND (PT I)

 

Frequency of position chosen

 

 

 

Sex as friend Total N
l 2 3

Males 21.00 7.00 11.00 39
Females 19.00 6.00 4.00 29
ukytal 40.00 13.00 15.00 68

x2 = 2.017

a = .01

C = 9.210

df = 2

 

49

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 14
TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF SEX BY ACQUAINTANCE
Frequency of position chosen
Sex as acquaintance Total N
l 2 3
Males 9.00 24.00 6.00 39
Females 6.00 19.00 4.00 29
Total 15.00 43.00 10.00 68
a = .001
df = 2
C = 9.210
x2 = .113
TABLE 15
TWO-WAY CHI-SQUARE OF SEX BY STRANGER
Frequency of position chosen
Sex as stranger Total N
I 2 3
Males 9.00 8.00 22.00 39
Females 4.00 4.00 21.00 29
Total 13.00 12.00 43.00 68
0= = .01
df = 2
C = 9.210
x2 = 1.849

 

 

50

TABLE 16

SAMPLE CORRELATION MATRIX (PT III)

 

 

Indirect Direct
Indirect 1.000
Direct .268 1.000

 

r = .268

p < .05

 

 

 

CHAPTER VI

DISCUSSION

The relationship between the actual and projected
distances was found to be significant (p < .05), but
because the magnitude of the correlation was relatively
low (r = .27), these two measures can be assumed to measure
somewhat different behaviors. The findings obtained from
these measures will, therefore, be treated separately.

While the data of children's observed proxemic
behavior support the hypothesized differences between 3-
and 4-year-olds, generally they did not uphold the pre-
dicted sex differences. Regarding Hypothesis I, which pre-
dicted a male-female difference in interaction distance,
though it appears that differences do exist, these differ-
ences can be accounted for by the deviant behavior of 3-
year-old males; these subjects interacted at the furthest
distances. When axis is considered, no significant sex
differences were found, thus refuting Hypothesis II. These
findings are similar to those found by Aiello and Jones
(1971) and Jones and Aiello (1973), who studied the proxe-
mic behavior of children 6 years of age and older.

Age, rather than sex, seems to be the differenti-
ating factor in the proxemic behavior of young children.

51

52
The support given to Hypotheses III and IV, which predicted
age differences in these proxemic behaviors, and the lack
of support given to Hypotheses I and II, indicate that age
rather than sex is the crucial variable when proxemic
behavior is considered. Three-year-olds stood further
apart and more directly than did 4-year-olds.

Four-year-olds may have been less direct because
they were less fearful and therefore more natural in their
interactions. Three-year-olds, on the other hand, might
have been more fearful and therefore stood more directly.
This explanation, however, is not consistent with the find-
ing that 3-year-olds stood further apart rather than hud-
dling together.

The age differences also appear to indicate a
developmental process, with 4-year—olds patterning more
closely the adult norms while 3-year-olds do not display
such a pattern. It is interesting to note that between the
ages of 3 and 4 a crucial change in nonverbal behavior
occurs. This trend in observed proxemic behavior is simi-
lar to a trend in the development of aggressive behavior
found by Sears (1951).

The Sears (1951) study is also relevant to the
present study's lack of sex differences, since before the
age of 5 males and females performed similarly but by age
5 differences were evident. Perhaps by age 5 the child has
achieved same-sex identification (Duhamel & Biller, 1959),

but before that time identification may not be complete in

53
the nonverbal area. If, indeed, younger children have not
progressed to the stage where same-sex nonverbal identifi-
cation has taken place, the behavior of children will not
yet have been sex-typed, and male-female differences should
not be evident.

Younger children, it would seem, would not be so
harshly punished for their indiscretions in the use of per-
sonal space (i.e., Fry & Willis, 1970). This interpreta—
tion may be more plausible when the difference between 3-
year-old males and the remainder of the subjects is con-
sidered. As Rothbart and Maccoby (1966) found, mothers are
more permissive with their preschool sons; this permissive-
ness may affect the 3-year-old males' nonverbal behavior so
that it consequently would be less conforming. This is
assuming, of course, that the mother is the primary rein-
forcing agent involved.

The develOpment of the child's personal space sche-
mata appears to be present in an overall cognitive frame-
work by age 3, but the behavioral manifestation of the
schemata is apparent only by age 4. While Hypothesis V,
which predicted the equating of closer distances with
greater degrees of acquaintance, was supported for all sub-
jects (that is, including 3-year-olds), it is not until age
4 that children displayed the inverse relationship between
the degree of acquaintance between projected interactants
and the distance with which these projected interactants

are placed relative to each other, thus confirming

54
Hypothesis VIII.

Because of the fact that no sex or age differences
were found in the performance of PT I (Hypothesis VII), but
that age differences were found in PT II (Hypothesis VIII),
along with the fact that a general inverse relationship was
found between degree of acquaintance and the distance pre-
placed (Hypothesis V), it would seem that 3-year-olds may
conceptualize a schema, but when they must free place a
self-referent figure perhaps they do not have the motor
coordination to do so. This is further supported by their
expected performance on PT I.

Another alternative explanation for the inconsis-
tency of the age differences is that 3-year-olds may have
had more difficulty understanding the language and concepts
used. Since the language and concepts used in PT I were
the same as that used in PT II, the differences should have
been consistent in both; they were not, however.

There was an overall difference between distance
placed between friend, acquaintance, and stranger on PT II
but the relationship was not an inverse one. This was due
to the placements of the 3-year-olds (Hypothesis VI). The
means seem to indicate that these children show no under-
standing of the concepts when they must free place figures.
This would lead one to believe that the results of PT I
should have been affected, which they were. Also, it can-
not be assumed that the problem lies with PT II, since PT I

may indeed have been a better discriminatory instrument,

55
since the child had control over his placements, and a
variety of possibilities for the placement could have
existed.

The results of PT I and PT II, unlike the findings
of Estes and Rush (1971), appear to be consistent with
Guardo (1969). This study's findings, therefore, extended
the age boundaries for the understanding of personal space
norms to preschool children, with some understanding by age
3 and a schematized understanding by age 4. On PT II,
which was similar to a free-place task used by Guardo, no
sex differences were found. Guardo (1969) found striking
age differences, however, but no sex differences on her
pre-placed task. It is interesting to note this inconsis-
tency between the two projective tasks which may parallel
the age inconsistency in this study. Perhaps, in the case
of 3- and 4-year-olds, age is the important factor, while
in older children where the schemata is already learned sex
differences appear. The important thing for preschool
children may be learning the task; once it is learned, they
may therefore differentiate further into a separate male or
female schema.

Also, as development takes place, the child becomes
progressively more sex-typed, as mentioned above, so sex
differences should become more manifest. Also, as Duhamel
and Biller (1959) found, 5-year-old males made more non-
imitative sex role choices than did females. Perhaps at

the preschool level the non-imitative preferences of males

56

make them similar in behavior to females but, as they grow i
older, males begin to make fewer non-imitative behaviors;
thus, sex differences will occur at a later but not at
an early age. This also is consistent with the non—
schematized behavior of 3-year-old males on PT II.

It is interesting to note the Baxter and Phelps
(1970) finding when an indirect measure was used that black (*5
female preschool children show a precocity in the area of
personal space. This was not found in white females when

the indirect measures were used. Perhaps this is because

 

of the reason mentioned above, or perhaps because middle- i :
class white children are not sex role typed by age 5 and
thus show no difference, or merely because black children
are more aware of personal space norms or more atuned to
nonverbal behavior. However, when the direct measure of
proxemic behavior is considered, male-female differences
were found, thus leading one to believe that white females
may be behaviorally more imitative than they illustrate in
a projective task situation, but that cognitive schemata
have not yet been organized. In any case, this shows some
indirect subcultural differences as was proposed by Hall
(1966), and found by Aiello and Jones (1971) and Jones and
Aiello (1973) when they utilized a direct measure of proxe-

mic behavior.

57
Summary

In the use of a free-place technique, Guardo (1969)
made the assumption that "an isomorphism maintains between
actual behavior (actual use of interaction distance) and
the representational figure-placement distance [p. 150]."
Though there was indirect support (Little, 1965) for this,
no direct comparison had been made. Though in this study
there was some correlation between the direct and indirect
measure (.27), it was not large enough to assume that one
should be equated with the other; thus, how a child per-
forms indirectly seems to have only minor bearing on how he
performs directly. Not only does the 1 inch equal to 1
foot scaling not apply to children, but their actual
observed interactions do not demonstrate the same age and
sex differences. It thus seems that the study of personal
space in preschool children can be divided into two cate-
gories: the directly observed use of space and the under-
lying cognitive schemata.

The understanding of schemata for the three rela-
tionships used in this study appears to be present by the
age of 3 but the actual manifestation and performance based
on this cognitive schema, as illustrated by the free-place-
ment projective task and the actual observed proxemic
behavior, does not seem to be developed until age 4, thus
indicating a developmental trend in the use of personal
space.

As Maccoby and Jacklin (1971) maintained, there are

 

58
no inherent sex differences in males and females but,
rather, these sex differences develop later in life as
greater socialization takes place. This was supported by
the author's study, which found either only marginal sex
differences or no sex differences at all in the direct mea-

sure of personal space.

Implications for Further Research

The finding of this study gives a variety of pos-
sibilities for further research. Since the correlation
between the direct and indirect measure was rather low for
preschool children, a developmental study using older chil-
dren of various ages should be executed to determine
whether a definite relationship exists between these two
types of measures, and, if it does eventually exist, at
what age is it established.

Also, it would be interesting to devise a study,
using the direct and indirect measures with black preschool
children, to see if age, sex, and correlational findings
are different for black preschool children than they are
for white preschool children. Since the Baxter and Phelps
(1970) study, when compared with the present study, indi-
cates differences in the female performance of the two sub-
cultures, perhaps the Baxter and Phelps study should be
replicated using black and white females to obtain a direct
comparison of the development of personal Space in females.

Also, a black and white developmental study using the

 

59
measures employed in this study would broaden the under~
standing of personal space development.

Additional studies similar to that of Little (1968)
are needed to ascertain the generalizability of the present
results to other cultures and subcultures.

In all of these studies refinement of the instru—
ment may be necessary for it must be determined whether
3—year-old children understand the words which describe the
affect states of friend, acquaintance, and stranger.

The dual procedure utilized by this study could
also be employed beneficially by those investigators who
wish to further understand the use of personal space in
emotionally disturbed children. It may well be that these
techniques would allow for sufficient discrimination
between disturbed and normal children.

Methodologically, it would be useful to determine
the relationship between the use of a front-facing figure
projective task and a profile silhouette projective task.
This comparison would probably clarify any of the discrep-
ant results obtained in the present study from those of
Estes and Rush (1971).

Because of the effect that a manipulation of an
environment has on personal space behavior (Baxter, 1970;
Castell, 1970; Guardo, 1969), direct and indirect data
should be obtained on young children to determine any pos-
sible interaction between age, sex, and environment. This

should also be investigated develOpmentally.

60

Finally, since a nursery school pOpulation was used
and the socialization process may be different for nursery
school children, as far as sex role identification and per-
sonal space relationships are concerned, a preschool group
of children who do not attend nursery school or have not
attended should be used. A comparison of the effects of
nursery school on these areas of socialization can thus be
made.

In summary, personal space research is in its
infancy and a wealth of studies are needed before a thor-

ough understanding of these behaviors can be accomplished.

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