See: Social space; Personal space; Sidewalk study; Hallway studyIn 1966, Hall, in his The Hidden Dimension, stated the following: [1]
“As more and more is learned about both men and animals, it becomes clear that the skin itself is a very unsatisfactory boundary or measuring point for crowding. Like molecules that make up all matter, living things move and therefore require more or less fixed amounts of space (see: social space). Absolute zero, the bottom of the scale, is reached when people are so compressed that movement is no longer possible. Above this point, the containers in which man finds himself either allow him to move about freely or else cause him to jostle, push, and shove. How he responds to this jostling, and hence to the enclosed space, depends on how he feels about being touched by strangers.”
Here, interestingly, he compares people to molecules and notes frankly that "skin" is not a good boundary measurement for humans, which is good rule of thumb guideline for beginner human thermodynamicists in respect to discernment of "boundaries" in human social thermodynamic terms.
“Like gravity, the influence of two bodies on each other is inversely proportional not only to the square of the distance but possibly even the cube of the distance between them.”
where GS is the social gravity, d is the distance between the two people or animals, and n is a number between 2 and 3. Hall explains this logic in terms of his "invisible bubbles" theory and compressed social stress:
“If one sees man surrounded by a series of invisible bubbles which have measurable dimensions, architecture can be seen in a new light. It is then possible to conceive that people can be cramped by the spaces in which they have to live and work. They may find themselves forced into behavior, relationships, or emotional outlets that are overly stressful. When stress increases, sensitivity to crowding rises—people get more on edge—so that more and more space is required as less and less is available.”
A "monopole" field goes like. Magnetic monopoles don't actually exist as far as we know to date, but some situations can produce a field which is approximately a monopole field over a limited region. For example, if you have a long bar magnet and you stay close to one pole.
A "dipole" field goes like. This is what you get from a current loop or a bar magnet, when you get far enough away that it appears "small."
“Even with plenty of food and no pressure from predation, the population never exceeded 200 individuals, and stabilized at 150.”even before it was actually given the name "Dunbar number" in honor or Robin Dunbar. The following, below left, is Hall's reconstruction of the Calhoun's rat density study, shown adjacent to Libb Thims reconstruction of the same study based on Hall's description and illustration. [7]
Depiction of a human molecular orbital showing of the 90 percent probability region of a person's location over the surface of the earth, the person considered as a human particle, shown inside of Hall's 1966 conception of 'reaction bubbles' (a type of personal space), according to which the probability region boundary is defined as one's thermodynamic boundary. [4] |
“Each animal is surrounded by a series of bubbles or irregularly shaped balloons that serve to maintain proper spacing between individuals.”
“A captivating scholarly writing on how human beings react to and make use of spatial distance from a physical and psychological viewpoint, i.e. the study of proxemics. The book also deals with cultural differences in the use of space. Hall examines the French, German, English, Japanese, and Arab world comparing each with the American context and with one another.”— Rana Sinha (2006), review of The Hidden Dimension (Ѻ)
“Two points are very important to remember to ask: is it real and does it work?”— Edward Hall (c.1970), Publication (Ѻ)