Abstract
The invasion of personal space is often a contributory factor to the experience of discomfort in aircraft passengers. This paper presents a questionnaire study which investigated how air travellers are affected by invasions of personal space and how they attempt to adapt to, or counter, these invasions. In support of recent findings on the factors influencing air passenger comfort, the results of this study indicate that the invasion of personal space is not only caused by physical factors (e.g. physical contact with humans or objects), but also other sensory factors such as noise, smells or unwanted eye contact. The findings of this study have implications for the design of shared spaces.Practitioner Summary: This paper presents a questionnaire study which investigated personal space in an aircraft environment. The results highlight the factors which affect the perception of personal space invasion in aircraft and can therefore inform the design of aircraft cabin environments to enhance the passenger experience.
Highlights
The study reported in this paper aims to develop an understanding of how people perceive their personal space in-flight, and how other passengers and environmental factors have an impact on personal space and comfort
Findings show that people will maintain closer distances to objects than people (Bailenson et al 2001), indicating that the cause of discomfort is not that something is within the personal space zone but that a human is within the area
Interaction distances Participants were asked to note the number of the image in Figure 2 which corresponded to their preferred comfortable conversational distance from a close friend and from a stranger
Summary
The study reported in this paper aims to develop an understanding of how people perceive their personal space in-flight, and how other passengers and environmental factors have an impact on personal space and comfort.What is personal space? A broad study of space (including personal and social space) was considered by Hall (1990a, 1) who used the term ‘proxemics’ ‘for the interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture’. Personal space has been described by Sommer (2002, 647) as an ‘emotionally tinged zone’ around the body that can vary in dimensions at any given time and context—individuals feel a sense of ownership over this space (Dosey and Meisels 1969). Intruding on this space uninvited can lead to discomfort (Hayduk 1978), stress, avoidance, withdrawal (Hayduk 1983) or arousal (Middlemist, Knowles, and Matter 1976; Hayduk 1983).
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