Spatial Behavior:

Michael Argyle, Bodily Communication:

"Argyle and Dean (1965) found that in a given situation people seek a certain degree of proximity, lean forward or back to attain it, and feel uncomfortable if they cannot. We proposed that this is the result of a balancing of forces of approach and withdraw: people are attracted to others (as the result of past rewards) and also repelled (as the result of past punishment)."

"If one person likes another, the approach forces will be stronger and the avoidance forces weaker, resulting in greater proximity."

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"People stand closer to others whom they like. This has been found consistently using a variety of methods."

"Willis (1966) found that subjects stood at different distances in real-life settings, in order of closeness as follows:

parents

close friends

friends

acquaintances

strangers

Individuals sit and stand closer to each other if they are of similar rather than different status, age (Lott and Summer 1967), or if they are similar in other ways, such as race."

"Orientation is also affected by liking: people generally sit side by side with close friends, while with those they do not like they choose a directly facing position. The main exception to this is that people like to face eating friends (Cook 1970)."

"Argyle and Dean (1965) ... found that people seek a certain degree of proximity, lean forward or back to attain it, and feel uncomfortable if they cannot.

It follows from the model that if a person comes too close this will arouse stronger avoidance forces than approach, so that the other will both be disturbed and back away. Particular discomfort is produced if the other is too close, and for people who like one another a different kind of discomfort is produced by being too far apart. In either case attempts are made to restore equilibrium. This can be done by changes in spatial position, for example by moving further away, leaning backwards, or adopting a less direct orientation (Patterson 1973)."