Deck 5: Proxemics: Engaging Personal Space and Interpersonal Distance

Question 1

Proxemics is the nonverbal code that involves the use of personal space and interpersonal distance. Each person acquires a slightly different understanding of their own personal space based upon their ______.

A) comfort zone
B) own culture
C) conflict style
D) peripheral vision

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The classification of the space ranging from 0-18 in. is known as the ______ zone.

A) intimate
B) personal/casual
C) social/consultative
D) public

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of an intimate zone experience?

A) Harry enjoys playing a competitive game of chess with his dad.
B) Treyvon likes the privacy of his desk at work due to its location in a corner cubby behind partitions.
C) Constance attends a trade show at a large conference hotel in a nearby city. Her guestroom is on the 21st floor, so she experiences many interactions in crowded elevators.
D) On those rare occasions when Gwyneth finds the time to spend an entire day at the beach, she always looks for a space "two blankets" away from other beachgoers.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The difference between a comfortable interaction in your intimate zone and an uncomfortable interaction in your intimate zone depends on whether ______.

A) you know the other person's name
B) the other person's whole body or only a portion of their body is in the zone
C) you are well-rested and in a good state of mind
D) you have a close, trusting relationship with the other person

Question 5

One of the distinguishing features of the intimate zone is that we have greater ______ each other.

A) interpersonal reaction towards
B) kinesthetic awareness of
C) individuation from
D) occasional contact with

Question 6

The personal/casual zone ranges from ______.

A) 5-10 in.
B) 18 in. to about 4 ft.
C) 4-ft.
D) 26 in. to about 8 ft.

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of a personal/casual zone interaction?

A) Instead of sitting at the kitchen table, Jules prefers to sit on the couch beside her roommate Deb while they eat dinner and watch TV.
B) Lesley enjoys stopping by her neighborhood café every morning to pick up a latte and chat with the barista.
C) After his dad's recent death, Charlie never missing the opportunity to give his mom a loving hug.
D) Daniel runs on the same bikeway everyday and never misses the chance to offer a quick wave "hello" to other runners.

Question 8

As compared to our intimate zone, our personal/casual zone ______.

A) is comprised of less available space
B) prohibits close interpersonal interactions
C) welcomes relatively many more individuals
D) is reserved for only our closest relationships

Question 9

The social/consultative zone distance of 4 feet is ______.

A) determined by the size of the average office desk
B) reflects the cultural concept of keeping someone "at arm's length"
C) an arbitrary length determined by the theorist Edward T. Hall
D) only applicable in certain public settings

Question 10

Which of the following is an example of a social/consultative zone interaction?

A) Juanita and her boyfriend enjoy spending their Tuesday evenings at dance lessons learning how to Salsa.
B) Recently promoted to a management position, Martin visits an upscale men's shop to have a tailor measure him for his first custom-made suit.
C) Angela works behind the front desk of her local library, where she enjoys greeting community members and checking out their choice of books.
D) At their favorite restaurant, Bobby and Joan always ask for a booth because they enjoy sitting together side-by-side.

Question 11

During social/consultative zone interactions we are generally comfortable keeping others "at arm's length," in contrast to public zone interactions where we are generally ______.

A) comfortable keeping others more than an arm's length away, which is 4 feet.
B) comfortable maintaining a distance of 4 feet from uniformed public employees
C) uncomfortable with unknown others being closer than 8 feet
D) uncomfortable with uniformed public employees being closer than 6 feet

Question 12

A proxemic violation can be defined as a/an ______.

A) situation that challenges our perception of what is acceptable interpersonal distance
B) situation that reinforces our perception of what is acceptable interpersonal distance
C) deliberate attempt by another to intimidate us through the use of coercive power
D) unintentional action by another that causes us to feel attacked and vulnerable

Question 13

To prepare for her biochemistry final, Cleo spends hours studying in a quiet corner of the library. When her friend Lawrence sees her sitting alone in deep concentration, he sneaks up behind her and places his hands on her shoulders. Cleo immediately jumps, her face flushes, and her heart starts racing because she is experiencing ______.

A) psychological attributes
B) psychological limitations
C) physiological proximity
D) physiological arousal

Question 14

The theory that suggests we form perceptions about people we interact with based on a combination of personal and situational characteristics that arise in each of our interactions with them is called ______ Theory.

A) expectation Volition
B) expectancy Violation
C) interactive Expectancy
D) interactive Violation

Question 15

Jasmine enjoys touch and is comfortable keeping her good friends close. But when Stephan, who she only recently met, runs up to her at a party and throws his arms around her she feels extremely uncomfortable. Stephan has violated Jasmine's sense of which of the following perceptual factors?

A) Deviation
B) Valence
C) Threat theory
D) Threat threshold

Question 16

According to Expectancy Violation Theory, we form perceptions about another person who has violated our expectations about interpersonal distance based on valence when we consider ______.

A) the intention of that violator and their ability to make amends
B) how often the other person commits the violation
C) the ability of that violator to offer us either rewards or punishment
D) the context within which the violations takes place

Question 17

The third factor of Expectancy Violation Theory involves the "threat threshold" of ______.

A) the person being violated
B) the person committing the violation
C) highly sensitive people
D) socially responsible people

Question 18

The term for the motivation to interact with those people who have characteristics in common with ourselves is ______.

A) sincerity
B) agreeable
C) homoserine
D) homophily

Question 19

One of the reasons that we select to have a relationship with another person because of perceptions of similarity is an attempt to ______.

A) reduce uncertainty
B) increase uncertainty
C) avoid certainty
D) expose certainty

Question 20

Jenna decides to wear a tailored shirt and skirt the first day of class because she wants to feel like the business professional she is studying to become. When Jenna sees that her classmates are all dressed in jeans and t-shirts, she fears she has made a big mistake. However when Allison arrives in similar attire, scans the room, and makes meaningful eye contact with Jenna, her fear fades away. Jenna knows she has found a new friend in Allison due to their ______.

A) dress code
B) similarity
C) proximity
D) expectancy

Question 21

We tend to develop relationships with individuals who we perceive to be unusual or unique ______.

A) when the situation requires that we interact with them
B) when the other person possesses higher status that offers us rewards
C) only after we determine that we have base level of similarity
D) only when we determine that they are equally attracted to us

Question 22

We perceive individuals to be similar to us if they share character traits with us. By way of contrast, we perceive individuals to be complementary to us if they appear to ______.

A) be different from us in every way
B) be similar to our closest family members
C) possess unusual or unique character traits
D) possess character traits we wish we had

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of a relationship that reflects complementarity?

A) Joan and Janet are identical twins who look so much alike that even their own parents often mistakenly refer to one of them with the other's name.
B) Sunil joined a local environmental club and during his first hiking event he walked for miles alongside Jamie. They quickly became good friends.
C) Emily works full time to help pay for college, which leaves little time or money to pursue her passion for travel. When she meets Jacques, an international student who has traveled throughout Europe, she enjoys listening to his adventures.
D) Daphne grew up in an ideologically progressive home where both of her parents were active in local politics. When her history professor assigns her to complete a project with Larry, who grew up in an ideologically conservative home with a worldview diametrically opposed to her own, she finds every communication challenging.

Question 24

______ is the term used to describe the situation that emerges when an individual is more likely to be attracted to things that they see frequently relative to those things that are rarely or never seen.

A) Mere exposure effect
B) More exposure effect
C) Mere exposure impact
D) More exposure impact

Question 25

In an effort to seem more similar to a desirable person or to make it clear that we are indeed different from another person, we often make changes in our ______.

A) distance from that person
B) association habits
C) nonverbal behaviors
D) verbal behaviors

Question 26

While the agreed to amount distance considered "good manners" varies by culture, there is a near-universal understanding that exhibiting "good manners" requires some amount of distance.

Question 27

Communication theorist Edward T. Hall is best known for describing four different classifications of approximate interaction distances.

Question 28

Ranging from 0 inches to 18 inches, the personal/casual zone is the closest designation of interpersonal distances.

Question 29

Rather than being a perfect sphere, the personal/casual zone is often described as an egg-shaped bubble surrounding each person.

Question 30

Because its relatively close proximity requires a degree of trust, people in our social/consultative zone are typically people we feel comfortable with or even people that we know quite well.

Question 31

The public zone ranges anywhere above 6 feet and is where we are most comfortable keeping unknown others with no professional obligations

Question 32

A proxemic violation is most likely to occur when where we experience a challenge
to our notion of acceptable interpersonal distance.

Question 33

In Western cultures, such as Europe and North America, residents tend to prefer relatively larger proxemic distances than those observed in other cultures.

Question 34

At home Samantha has her own bedroom, but when she attends college she has to share a tiny dorm room with her new college roommate. Samantha's subsequent difficulty sleeping and concentrating may be attributed to a fight or flight reaction due to her perception of a proxemic violation.

Question 35

The biological and emotional responses to proxemics violations that one person is experiencing are immediately observable to other people in his or her environment.

Question 36

When a proxemic violation occurs, we make judgments about the other person based on the perceived intensity of the threat, our attitude toward the violator, and our own individual and cultural experiences.

Question 37

Our initial perceptions of similarity with another person are almost always proven to be reliable over time.

Question 38

Our motivation to be in a relationship with a person who is similar to ourselves is secondary to our motivation to be in relationship with a person who is unusual or unique.

Question 39

When we desire a relationship with a person who complements us, we are generally seeking traits or behaviors that we perceive they possess and we're lacking in.

Question 40

When Jesse first met Hank, he "ticked off all of her boxes." He was smart, fit, and ambitious - and also shared her sense of humor. She quickly moved him from the category of potential friend to potential partner demonstrating impact of matching schemata.

Question 41

Identify and describe, using an example that includes nonverbal behaviors, the characteristics of each of Edward T. Hall's four zones of interaction distance.

Question 42

Compare differences in the perception of proxemic violation between Western and Asian cultures and explain how these differences may result in challenges to cross-cultural interpersonal communication.

Question 43

Drawing on the valence factor of Expectancy Violation Theory, compare the impact on an individual in an interaction with a proxemic violator who offers rewards in contrast to the impact on an individual in an interaction with a proxemic violator who offers punishment.

Question 44

What factors differentiate a relationship based on similarity from a relationship based on complementarity?

Question 45

Using an example from your personal experience, illustrate impact of the "mere exposure effect" on the development of interpersonal relationships.