Nonverbal communication: kinesics, takesics, proxemics

Nonverbal Codes and Languages

Adapters are facial expressions, movements of arms, legs, etc., they reflect the emotional state (boredom, tension, etc.) Adapters are divided into:

• Self-adaptors
  are gestures that are associated with the body (scratching, patting, stretching, shrugging).
• Alteradaptors
  - movements in relation to the interlocutor’s body (patting on the back).
• Adapter objects
  are movements associated with other things (folding a sheet of paper).

Regulators are nonverbal actions that control the intensification or weakening of a conversation between people (eye contact with the speaker, head nods, etc.) The eyes and face play the most important role in nonverbal communication. The following pattern is known: the pupils of the eyes dilate and contract when looking at pleasant and unpleasant objects.

Affect portrayals are facial expressions that reflect a variety of emotions (joy, sadness, anger, etc.)

Vocalics (paralinguistics)

Voice effects accompany the words. Tone, speed, strength, type of voice (tenor, soprano, etc.), pauses, intensity of sounds - each of them has its own meaning. These paralinguistics are often thought of as vocal cues.

They talk about people's emotions

. For example, when a person is very angry, he pronounces words slowly and separately, pausing between words to produce a special effect.

Paralinguistics also characterize personality

. For example, the manner of speech can indicate an authoritarian, tough or soft personality.

Research has found a connection between vocal performance and persuasive speech.

. Speedier, intonation, louder speech convinces people more strongly.

Physical properties (physics)

General attractiveness, a beautiful body, normal weight are positive signs in communication. Prejudices against unattractive people and people with physical disabilities are deeply ingrained in society, and they impair communication capabilities.

Haptics (takesika)

People touch each other on different occasions, in different ways and in different places. Professional, ritual, friendly, hostile, and loving touches are distinguished.

Proxemics in communication

It is connected with how social and personal space is perceived and used in communication (the distance between communicators, the organization of space during a conversation, etc.) Each person seems to be surrounded by a spatial sphere, the dimensions of which depend on the cultural basis of the individual, on his condition, on the social environment.

There are three types of space:

• Fixed space, it is limited by immovable things, such as the walls of a room.
• A semi-fixed space, it changes, for example, when rearranging furniture.
• Informal space is a personal and intimate territory surrounding a person.

In European culture, there are the following norms: 0-35 centimeters are the boundaries of intimate space; 0.3-1.3 meters - the boundaries of personal space; 1.3-3.7 meters - social, and 3.7 meters - the border of public, public space.

Chronomics in communication

Studies the structuring of time in communication. In Western cultures, punctuality is highly valued. Punctuality is one of the conditions for a successful career. People who are late or do not complete tasks on time are criticized. In Eastern cultures, the attitude towards time is less rigid. Similarly, men and women have different ideas about punctuality, for example, during personal meetings.

Artifacts (artifacts)

Artifacts include, for example, clothing and jewelry. Clothing is the most powerful factor. It must correspond to the environment (business, home), physical parameters of the body (fit the figure), social status, style.

In all these and other areas of nonverbal communication, specialists need to receive certain training.

Olfactics

He is studying smell. Smell is perhaps more powerful than any other sense. We form an opinion about our interlocutor by smell.

Smells are important factors in communication. The following features can be highlighted:

• Smell blindness
  is the inability to detect smells, which can make it difficult to communicate with others.
• Odor adaptation
  is the process of becoming accustomed to certain odors.
• Smell memory
  - Some smells can evoke pleasant or unpleasant memories.
• Excessive odor
  is an excess of the norm when using perfumes, deodorants, seasonings, etc.
• Odor discrimination
  is the ability of the sense of smell to determine the similarities and differences between some odors and others.

A person can detect up to ten thousand odors.

Aesthetics

Essential when conveying a message or mood through color or music. Music regulates behavior, stimulates or weakens certain actions. The painting of walls, furniture, and technical equipment should evoke a favorable feeling. For example, green coloring is not recommended in hospitals because it causes nausea in some patients, and white color is cold.

The influence of color and music on a person is used in different rooms and situations: from supermarkets to cars and squares. In each location, they must correspond to the purpose of the specific room or situation.

Author: Igor Petrovich Yakovlev

, Doctor of Philosophy, professor, teacher of communication theory at the Faculty of Journalism of St. Petersburg University and the Academy of Management and Economics.

Source

Tactile communication (takeshika) and proxemics

In organizing teacher-student interaction.

What is takeshika? This word has the same root as the concept of “tactile”, which comes from the Latin tactilis - tangible. That is, takeshika is a non-verbal means of communication based on tangible signals transmitted by people to each other.

Takeshika studies touch in communication situations: handshakes, kisses, touching, stroking, patting, pushing, etc.

People touch each other for different reasons, in different ways and in different places. Research shows that a variety of touches are necessary for humans because they stimulate and regulate their communication with others.

It has been proven that they are a biologically necessary form of stimulation, especially for children from single-parent families for whom the teacher replaces the missing parent. By patting a naughty or offended person on the head, you sometimes achieve more than all the chosen means combined. Only the teacher who enjoys the trust of the students has the right to do this. The use of dynamic touches is determined by a number of factors such as status, age, gender of students and teachers (Mizhirikova V. A., Ermolenko E. M. [126]).

When communicating with children, it is very important to use touch (tactile communication) . By touching, you can establish contact, attract attention, and express your attitude towards the child. It happens that a student sits at an exam in confusion, his forehead is covered in sweat, trembling with fear, and the teacher comes up, puts his arm around his shoulders, speaks encouraging words in his ear, and lo and behold, the “martyr of science” perks up [170].

Moving around the class, the teacher can touch the hand or shoulder of a distracted student and thereby attract him to work, can mark a successful answer with a touch, and calm an excited one. It is especially important for parents to use touching the child, because such touches do not cause alertness and do not create inconvenience, as sometimes when communicating with strangers.

The teacher should not abuse touches - the child is in a dependent situation and cannot afford to evade if the touches are unpleasant for him. Soft and calm, seemingly random, touches promote contact. Touches that carry a hint of force or pressure can push a child away.

But it is not always the teacher who enters the “intimate space” to solve a particular problem in the educational process. The zoning of the communicative space of the class is not always in the teacher’s field of view or it is not given much importance, and as a result, misunderstanding, resentment, indifference on the part of the student to the teacher and his unwillingness to actively work in the lesson may arise. Knowledge of proxemics allows you to eliminate many of the causes of a negative communication scenario when communicating with students.

Proxemics studies, in particular, the influence on communication of spaces with fixed relationships (architecture), with semi-fixed relationships (arrangement of furniture) and dynamic spaces (location of interlocutors in space during the communication process).

Proxemics combines the following characteristics: distances between communicants in various types of communication, their vector directions. Often, the field of proxemics includes tactile communication (touching, patting the addressee on the shoulder, etc.), which is considered within the framework of the aspect of intersubjective distant behavior.

Proxemics also perform a variety of functions in communication. So, for example, tactile communication becomes almost the only communication tool for deaf-blind people (a purely communicative function). Proxemics also perform a regulatory function in communication. Thus, the distances between communicants during verbal communication are determined by the nature of their relationship (official / unofficial, intimate / public). In addition, kinesic and proxemic means can serve as metacommunicative markers, individual phases of speech communication. For example, removing a headdress, a handshake, a greeting or farewell kiss, etc. (Pocheptsov G.G. [162, pp. 52-53]).

Depending on the time of day, how full the room is and one’s own physical condition, a person can occupy different places in the room. People tend to stratify space by putting on it an invisible grid of coordinates and markers that allow them to judge social status, attitudes and self-esteem.

American psychologist E. Hall, one of the first in the field of studying human spatial needs, published the book “Silent Language” in 1969. He also introduced the term “proxemics” (from the English proximity – closeness).

This is the distance that people keep, and this is a biological pattern.

Each person has a certain territory that he considers personal. Communication distance depends on many factors (origin, culture, personal preferences). If the distance is too small or too large, people may experience awkwardness and discomfort [163].

There are four main distances

, which guide most people during communication:
intimate, personal, social and public.
intimate distance

can be close, expressed by touch, and far - at a distance of 15 to 50 cm. Near intimate distance in business life is assumed during handshakes, greetings and farewells. In all other cases, the long distance is set to 50 cm.

Personal distance

- this is business communication at a distance of 60 cm to 1.2 m, which is used during conversations, negotiations, and signing contracts. Such a distance does not obligate anyone and at the same time encourages continued contact.

Social distance

– from 1.2 to 2.5 m – is set in cases where communication occurs with a stranger. At this distance, the director receives the secretary and other employees, emphasizing strictly business communication. Such a distance is convenient when long-term communication is undesirable: you can look away from the interlocutor, and at such a distance this will mean the end of the conversation.

Public distance

assumes a distance of 3.5 to 7.5 m. It is ideal for speaking at meetings and seminars. Public distance is the distance from the stage to the audience, characteristic of the theater; from the podium to participants in meetings and meetings.

The organization and angle of communication are also important proxemic components of the nonverbal system. Researchers T. G. Grigorieva, T. P. Usoltseva [47] define orientation as the position of the communicators in relation to each other, which can vary from the “face to face” position to the “back to back” distance. When talking at the table, the orientation of the partners often determines the nature of communication.

It is known, in particular, that sitting next to each other at a table promotes normal teamwork and cooperation; diagonal placement creates a feeling of ease, a certain degree of freedom; a face-to-face position (on the contrary) can increase tension and control over each other, causing conflict.

Proxemic means of communication include the orientation of the teacher and students at the time of teaching and the distance between them. The norm of pedagogical distance is determined by the following distances:

· personal communication between teacher and student - from 45 to 120 cm;

· formal communication in the classroom - 120 - 400 cm;

· public communication when speaking to an audience - 400 -750 cm. (Mizherikova V. A., Ermolenko M. N. [126]).

By changing both his position in space and regulating the relative position of other participants, as well as necessary objects, the teacher can make changes in the course of the pedagogical process and initiate changes in the pedagogical culture of communication (Dvinyaninova G. S., Devyatkova S. N. [53] and etc.).

Observing the work of a teacher in a lesson, you can notice, as E. A. Petrova and E. M. Yumasheva [213] note, that the zone of most effective contact is the first 2-3 desks. It is the first desks that fall into a personal or even intimate (if the teacher stands close to the students) zone throughout almost the entire lesson. The remaining students, as a rule, are at a public distance from the teacher, according to the classification of communication zones according to A. Pease. If the teacher moves around the class at ease, then, by changing the distance, he achieves proxemic diversity and equality in communication with each child.

When considering the space of communication, one cannot help but touch upon such an aspect as the organizational conditions of learning, in particular, the placement of furniture (tables and chairs) in the classroom space (Samoukina N.V. [138], Tsukerman G.A. [202]). Thus, N.V. Samukina notes that the furniture is placed in the classroom in such a way that the teacher’s desk is in front of the class and, as it were, opposed to it. Such an organizational solution of the classroom space, according to the author, consolidates the directive influencing position of the teacher. The students' desks are placed in several rows and give the impression of a "common mass". Being in such a class, the student feels “inside the class”, part of it. Therefore, being called to the board and communicating with the teacher “one-on-one” are factors that cause an unpleasant and tense state in the child. Typically, children in a school class sit as shown in Diagram 1.

Diagram 1. Traditional arrangement of students in the classroom

Let's look at this well-known scheme from the point of view of the possibilities of organizing the collective interaction of children in the learning process. It is easy to see that with this arrangement of classrooms, each student is able to interact primarily with the teacher; only with him can he have full-scale visual and verbal contact. This option for placing students is not able to turn off the mechanism of social facilitation, but it does not involve the interaction of children in the learning process (Ivanov V.D., Ivanova E.V., Ivanova A.V. [70]).

This arrangement of children in a school class has a long history and is closely connected with the methodological side of educational work, traditionally carried out in a classroom-lesson system. This scheme firmly establishes the dominant position of the teacher. Each student is “directed” to the teacher and is limited in his ability to interact with classmates. In addition, the place assigned to each child at one or another desk indicates a certain social rank. Thus, a student’s presence at the first or last desk in the classroom to this day reflects and determines the degree of his educational success, his status in the group of peers, and the nature of his relationship with the teacher. N.V. Samukina [138] proposes to organize the classroom space in a different way, making it more democratic: the teacher’s desk is placed in front in the center, and the students’ desks are located in a semicircle at the same distance from the teacher’s desk.

In an effort to diversify the nature of children's joint learning activities, teachers (usually this is done in high school, but younger students also like to work this way) often resort to the method of mutually positioning students in the classroom. This method is presented in Diagram 2. It is also a university invention, and is most suitable for conducting other forms reminiscent of university seminars. Since seminar lessons are not uncommon in high schools and are often taught in subjects oriented towards collective discussion, this method of arranging study spaces is very popular.

Diagram 2. Traditional arrangement of students at the seminar

As is easy to see, this organization of space is much more democratic than the previous one. Each participant sees everyone and can communicate with everyone, everyone sees him and can communicate with him. Everyone can speak out and be heard not only by the teacher, but also by the class participants. However, we emphasize that the place of the teacher is still emphasized here. This is emphasized - the teacher is the head here, he leads the collective discussion. Consequently, the very organization of space emphasizes its special, dominant role.

With such an organization of space, both positive and negative aspects of teacher-student interaction arise.

Organizing the classroom space according to the “Seminar” principle

Scheme 3 offers a similar, but not identical to the previous method of placing participants, and, therefore, it is capable of producing a slightly different version of interaction. Its main difference is that here the teacher (or student speaker) does not dominate. By the nature of his placement, he is not “in charge” here, but “an equal among equals.” Of course, if desired, his role as a leader or arbiter can practically be played by him, but it is not emphasized by the organization of space itself.

Scheme 3. Option for accommodating seminar participants

This placement option is very effective in terms of not only the active inclusion of the mechanism of social facilitation, but also in terms of the effective organization of joint learning activities. Collective discussion of the problem with this option of placing students in classes creates the most favorable conditions for their interaction. With this placement of desks, the student is constantly in sight. He no longer feels pseudo-protected from the fact that he sits sideways to the teacher and most of his classmates. This promotes greater discipline and responsibility for everyone.

There can be different options for group organization of space, which are shown in the following diagrams 4 - 6.

Personal zones in different cultures

In his research, Edward Hall, as befits a professional cultural scientist, paid great attention to intercultural differences and analyzed various cultures. In the course of studying the spatial perception of representatives of different nations, Hall identified several features that are worth paying attention to for anyone interested in the topic of proxemics in general and the topic of improving relationships with others in particular.

Here are some of Hall's observations:

• representatives of Western culture focus not on the space between objects, but on the objects themselves;
• The Japanese are more receptive to in-between spaces, i.e. to the intervals between people and objects;
• North Americans and Europeans prefer to furnish rooms along the walls and separate them with baseboards and edgings;
• The Chinese and Japanese love sliding walls because... this allows them to use the same spaces for different purposes;
• Arabs, when touching their interlocutor, strive to express sympathy, while the Japanese perceive such gestures negatively;
• residents of many Arab countries, the Mediterranean and Latin America have smaller spatial bubble sizes than residents of Western Europe, Australia and North America;
• in Brazil it is quite common to talk in a personal and intimate area, which causes considerable discomfort, for example, to visiting Americans or Western Europeans;
• The social distance of Russians is less than that of Americans, but greater than that of Latin Americans.

National characteristics have a huge impact on people's communication, and they should always be taken into account. It is precisely because of ignorance of the intricacies of spatial perception that misunderstandings and conflicts can often occur between people.

The same Japanese person, who was touched by an Arab while expressing good attitude, will be discouraged by his “unceremoniousness,” and the Arab will perceive the Japanese’s distance as arrogance. A Russian or Brazilian can put an American in an awkward position by constantly closing the distance, because this is how he is used to communicating in his country, and an American will seem to a Russian or Brazilian to be a suspicious type who avoids people, but in the USA it is simply customary to be located at a greater distance from a communication partner .

There are many such examples, and they all indicate that we must respect other people’s spatial norms, because the same communication means can be perceived differently even by people in the same country, not to mention different cultures.

Proxemics can be a wonderful tool and means of communication, and by and large, anyone can easily acquire knowledge of spatial relationships. You just need to set a goal, communicate wisely and always remember that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

We wish you good luck in improving your communication skills, and finally, we offer some communication tips from psychologist Evgeniy Zakharov.

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Key words:1Communication

Hug = Save. TAKESHIKA: TACTILE BEHAVIOR OF REPRESENTATIVES OF DIFFERENT CULTURES.

The system of human communication is much more complicated than we used to think. There is a whole list of extra-linguistic means that convey to others our attitude towards them, desire or reluctance to communicate.

Nonverbal communication is a way of interaction between two individuals without the use of words. It includes facial expressions, gestures and other methods of communication using body language. The elements of nonverbal communication include kinesics, oculistics, takesics, sensorics, proxemics, and chronemics.

TAKESHIKA: TACTILE BEHAVIOR OF REPRESENTATIVES OF DIFFERENT CULTURES.

First, we'll talk about touch as a phenomenon in general. In fact, even in ancient times, touch was given great importance. Historical evidence has been preserved that kings could heal their subjects with their touch. Thus, the English King Edward cured a man of scrofula (a special type of tuberculosis) simply by touching him.

Indeed, we are touched from birth. Literally as soon as we are born, we are immediately in physical contact with other people. Touch has a huge impact on a person, because with its help you can make another happy and healthy, or, on the contrary, take away his energy and good mood and even force him to do things that he absolutely does not want to do.

What is Takesika? As stated earlier, takeshika is a type of nonverbal communication and is also the science of touch. This includes physical contact in the form of handshakes, hugs, kisses, etc.

A person reacts to touch very strongly. There are tribes in Africa where people do not suffer from depression at all. It is known that mothers do not part with their babies until they reach the age of 3–5. There is constant contact with the mother. They practically do not have mental disorders or even simple severe depression, that is, as a rule, they do not even know what depression is.

And even animals, when they are born, vitally need warm touches. For example, baby monkeys have died or suffered severe illness if they were separated from their mother and not given a stuffed plush toy to replace the mother. Thus, the little monkeys experienced tactile hunger, that is, the absence of touch, in a less painful way.

Everyone needs touch. Now there are debates: should touch be included in the therapeutic psychological process or not? American psychiatrist and psychotherapist Irwin Yalom recalls in his book how he went to a woman psychologist, being very cold and unemotional, and told her his life. Unfortunately, nothing helped, until one day she suddenly touched his hand and said: “I understand you so.” This touch, along with kind, supportive words, had a greater impact than numerous tests. In this sense, we need to touch each other, but it is important to remember that touches are divided into those that give us energy and those that take energy away from us or expose us to the influence of others.

There is a theory that beneficial touch comes from the person who has the most powerful personal energy charge. Thus, psychologists observed the following picture: at the governor’s reception, everyone tried to touch him. As if casually, so to speak, by chance, just shake his hand or come up and touch his sleeves, as Tsvetaeva wrote. But the governor himself did not touch anyone. We clearly see that, indeed, a person endowed with power does not hurt anyone, but everyone wants to touch him. Everyone wants to receive energy through this touch.

For example, autographs or personal belongings of a star are also a small touch, just as the Scandinavians once expected trophies, even the most insignificant, from their king. It was believed that a gift from the king’s hands gives energy through touch to the one who received this gift and changes his fate for the better.

The touch of a person who cares about us certainly has a positive influence and protective powers. The hug of a loved one, the kisses of someone who is dear to us and who treats us well, greatly enhances our psychological strength. It’s not for nothing that they say: “To hug is to save.”

There are also sinister, if you can call them that, touches. We need to highlight the touches with which we are manipulated. If a person for some reason wants to touch us, while we do not have friendly relations with him, he is a complete stranger, an outsider, it is better to think about why he needs this. As a rule, in this way they want to force us to fork out money or fulfill some other people’s requests or desires. For example, waiters, touching their customers, received a higher amount of compensation, larger tips.

He is trying to make you relax, because through touch we enter into synchronicity with another person’s system, and according to the laws of physics, we are all systems, connected to each other in one way or another. When systems come into contact, they can transfer information to each other. That's why street fortune tellers try to touch you.

They also try to touch when cursing. Anthropologists write that the shaman, cursing the native, touched him with a special stick or even a bone. This touch served as a signal of a person’s imminent death.

Let us remind you that men are structured differently when it comes to touch. Their skin in stressful situations gradually loses sensitivity. This is normal. The fact is that before they fought, fought and fought. The skin loses sensitivity to protect the body from wounds inflicted by the enemy. Therefore, men sometimes, in a stressful situation, avoid touching. The stress will pass, then the man will be able to respond to your hugs more tenderly, more adequately, without moving aside.

A woman under stress, on the contrary, needs touch. Their skin becomes even more sensitive, although it already has 10 times more receptors. It was noticed: if a woman in depression and neurosis is stroked and hugged, she recovers much faster.

With the help of touch, a person strengthens or weakens the communication process. The use of touch depends on a number of factors, among which the most important are the type of culture, whether the person is female or male, age, status of the person and personality type.

People touch each other for different reasons, in different ways and in different places. Research shows that a variety of touches are necessary for humans because they stimulate and regulate their communication with others. Scientists studying tactile behavior of people believe that depending on the purpose and nature of touch, touch can be divided into the following types:

- professional - they are impersonal in nature, the person is perceived only as an object of communication (examination by a doctor);

- ritual - handshakes, diplomatic kisses;

- friendly;

- love.

What do these or other touches mean?

• Handshakes

Initially, this gesture demonstrated that a person does not have a knife in his hand, and it appeared in Ancient Rome. It was quite common back then to hide a dagger up your sleeve.

Therefore, in order to understand whether the interlocutor came with peaceful intentions, they felt the right (usually fighting) hand in this way. The gesture has survived to this day, but now it carries a symbol of friendship and business communication.

Historically, there have been several types of handshakes, each of which has its own symbolic meaning.

• The palm turned upward under the partner's palm signifies readiness to submit, an unconscious signal to the one whose dominance is recognized.
• The palm turned down on the palm of the partner expresses the desire for dominance, an attempt to take control of the situation.
• The palm with the edge down (vertical position) fixes the position of equality of the interlocutors.
• The “glove” handshake (two palms clasping one palm of the interlocutor) emphasizes the desire for sincerity, friendliness, and trust.

• Stroking and patting

These touches usually express approval, support or sympathy. If a person close to us has problems or some kind of misfortune has happened, by patting or patting us on the shoulder, we communicate that we are ready to support him.

If, when meeting, one friend pats the other on the back during a hug, this symbolizes his desire to move away; hugs for him are just a formality.

And if a man acts this way towards a woman at the very beginning of a relationship, then this is an alarm bell warning of his real intentions.

• Kisses

They play the same role as hugs, but are more intimate and close in nature. This is especially true for kissing on the lips. In our culture, only a couple or two girlfriends can kiss on the lips (for some reason this is fashionable today). In other cases, such a manifestation of love and friendship is considered unacceptable. Kissing on the lips between men or relatives is equated with homosexuality and incest, is condemned by society and can even completely ruin life.

It is interesting that in many countries (especially the Middle East), kissing men when meeting, even on the lips, is quite normal.

Cheek kisses have a wider range of social connections - this is how spouses, lovers, relatives, boyfriends and girlfriends greet each other.

In the Slavic tradition, greeting kisses have a special meaning, which is almost lost today. The triple “cross” kiss was an ancient Easter ritual; it was also used when men met, thus expressing respect and friendship to each other.

Before the handshake came from Europe to the Slavic countries, a hug and a kiss were the only ways to express one's affection for a relative and friend - especially long-awaited meetings between two men could be accompanied by kisses on the cheek or lips.

Kisses have a long and complicated history - at different times they symbolized different relationships. The original demonstration of friendship and respect in many cultures underwent a period of hierarchical symbolism: noble men kissed each other on the lips, while lower subordinates were kissed on the cheek.

The greater the social gap between two people, the farther from the lips the place where you had to kiss was located - on the hand, knee, foot, shoe. And the most powerless (slaves) had to be content with the land on which the master passed. This is where the expression “kissing the ground under your feet” comes from, meaning that a person in love deifies his passion and is ready for any humiliation just to be close.

And, although today we consider a kiss to be the prerogative of lovers, in the historical context everything happened exactly the opposite: at first the kiss was a symbol of friendship and respect, and then it became an element of flirtation. When the fashion arose at European balls to end each dance with a kiss, it gradually became part of the courtship ritual.

• Embrace

When meeting, they symbolize the emotional connection between the interlocutors. This is how close friends, relatives, lovers, parents and children greet each other. The nature of the “hugs” depends on how close these people are to each other. In especially cordial relationships or after a long separation, the hugs are tight until the ribs crunch.

During friendly meetings of a more respectable nature, hugs are quick and may be accompanied by a passing handshake or pat on the shoulder.

There are unspoken gender rules for hugs: a man hugs a woman by the waist, and a woman hugs him by the shoulders and neck. You can put your arm around a friend’s shoulder during a heart-to-heart conversation over a glass of tea, as this signifies special trust and willingness to support. This is a subconscious allegory - carrying a wounded friend from the battlefield, the friend throws his arm over his shoulder.

In intercultural communication, it is necessary to be careful and careful when touching your partner, taking into account differences in tactile behavior adopted in cultures. In Belarusian culture, tactile behavior is quite democratic; you can take your communication partner “under the elbow” and remove a “speck of dust” from your jacket. However, when dealing with representatives of other cultures, it is necessary to keep in mind that haptics prescribes minimal tactile actions in intercultural communication: greetings, farewells, symbolic handshakes when signing official documents.

Spatial zones

Hall identified four zones (sometimes called distances) that people observe when communicating:

• intimate area;
• personal zone;
• social zone;
• public area.

These zones can be schematically represented as follows:

Intimate area

It is most convenient to imagine the intimate area in the form of an imaginary bubble with a radius of about half a meter. There is a person in this bubble. If someone else is in this area, physical contact is expected, for example, touching, stroking, hugging, etc. (Here it is appropriate to use two terms: proxemics-takesika).

The intimate zone is observed by a person only when communicating with the closest people - relatives, family members or very close friends. Interestingly, the closer people are to each other in terms of relationships, the smaller the distance between them. Each of us has examples of this - just remember how we strive to close the distance with our loved ones.

The intimate zone gives people the opportunity to touch each other. If a person is not sociable enough, he will strive to expand the intimate zone, in particular when communicating with strangers. Such a person may avoid public transport or crowded places where people are in close physical contact with each other.

If a person is aggressive, he can also increase the intimate area, and he will do this unconsciously. For example, he can stand with his legs wide apart, wave his arms while talking, or sit imposingly on the sofa with his arms outstretched to the sides. If someone suddenly invades “his” space, he may become aggressive and angry.

Here are more examples: people who sympathize with each other will be located closer to each other; a person who dislikes his interlocutor will move further away from him; The distance between spouses with relationship problems will always increase. Remember different situations from your life, and you yourself will be able to find confirmation of these words, and this applies to both personal and business communication.

And some more practical information useful in life. Under normal conditions, you should not be too close to a person, otherwise you can provoke a conflict (the video presented above illustrates this perfectly). When a stranger invades the intimate area of ​​one person, the first person’s body will release stress hormones, causing mental mobilization aimed at repelling aggression. This self-defense mechanism is inherent in us by nature.

Despite this, today's life often forces us to be in close contact with others. We all travel in the subway and elevators, stand in lines and jostle in the crowd. This is where certain compensating mechanisms were born - unspoken norms of behavior that are recommended to be followed. If you don’t want trouble (or you’re just thinking about others and don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable), you shouldn’t talk loudly on the phone (or in general), while being close to someone, without taking your eyes off looking at strangers, etc.

Following these simple rules can make your life and the lives of those you encounter more comfortable.

Personal zone

The personal zone is a space for friendly and business communication. The distance in this case can be from half a meter to 1 meter 20 centimeters, i.e. there is near and far personal distance. In the first case, relatives and friends are allowed into the personal area, and in the second - business partners, colleagues, etc.

The personal zone differs in that, as a rule, there is no physical contact. It can also be called the “zone of sympathy”, and here, as in the first case, sympathy affects the distance - the more people like each other, the less distance between them.

It is also interesting that the size of the “sympathy zone” can vary dramatically among different people, depending on their personal characteristics. For example, sociable people, optimists and extroverts reduce their personal distance, while closed, complex or insecure people, “negatives” and introverts will increase this distance. In some cases, a wide personal zone creates the illusion of security for a person.

In addition, personal distance may also depend on age factors. You probably yourself have noticed that children and older people strive to be physically closer to those with whom they communicate, while young people and middle-aged people, on the contrary, feel more comfortable when located further away from their interlocutor. Proxemics explains this (in psychology) by how confident and protected a person feels.

Social zone

As one might expect, the boundaries of the social zone are even wider - they range from 1.2 to 3.7 meters. Business communication almost always corresponds to these limits. By the way, the phrase “sit down at the negotiating table” also has an interesting interpretation from the position of proxemics: the table is an indispensable component of negotiations, and its size corresponds to the social zone. The same applies to the shape of the table and how the interlocutors are located at it.

Note that the location of the interlocutors at the table itself divides the space into personal segments. As a rule, the border is always located in the center of the table, and a person perceives the part up to the border on “his” side as personal (sometimes even intimate) territory. And if someone suddenly puts something on someone else's half, it can become an invasion of a personal (or intimate) area and cause a negative response.

And again, a little bit of practice. For a boss-subordinate conversation, psychologists advise choosing rectangular or square tables and placing chairs opposite each other. In this case, it is necessary that the boss’s chair has a higher back and is generally more massive. This creates a certain mood, because the boss seems to “rise” over the subordinate, and the latter already initially feels “weaker”.

In the case of business negotiations or any other communication, for example, for a meeting of a large group of friends, it is worth using an oval or round table without sharp corners and the same chairs for everyone. In this situation, all communication participants will feel in the same position.

And a little more about psychological comfort. Take note that whenever there is some movement behind a sitting person (for example, someone is constantly walking, a door is constantly opening/closing, the noise of cars outside the window is heard, etc.), he is in a stressful situation . This can affect the state of the interlocutor and communication in general. Therefore, if you want your partner to be comfortable, if possible, sit him with his back to the wall or to a part of the room where nothing is happening.

Let us note one more feature: social distance offers a knowledgeable person an important advantage - if he does not want to communicate with his interlocutor, is tired or is simply not interested, he can look away from his partner without harm, and this will not be perceived as something tactless.

Public area

The public zone is familiar first hand to teachers, lecturers, speakers and all those who have to speak in public, because it is intended specifically for communication with the audience. The size of this zone varies from 3.7 to almost 8 meters, and this is exactly the distance at which in most cases the speaker is located in front of spectators or listeners.

A public area is a means of communication that allows information to be conveyed to a group without the use of aids such as projectors, loudspeakers or microphones. And this applies not only to verbal, but also to a significant part of non-verbal information. However, one point needs to be taken into account here - if the room is small, then you should be located at the minimum distance from the audience for a public area, and if it is large, then the distance should be increased.

These are the four zones that proxemics defines. Communication is a real art, and psychological science makes it possible to use things to master it that we often don’t even think about.

You, of course, noticed that certain attention is paid in proxemics to the location of interlocutors in space, and not just the distance between them. And here, too, there are several important features that are important and need to be taken into account when communicating.