SUBTEXTbetween talkers. We feel comfortable at that distance. In other
countries people want to be close enough to "feel the other's breath."
When we walk into a theater without reserved seats we try to
manage a seat with no one on either side. The same is true in a
bus or subway. Unless all the seats are filled, we resist sitting
next to someone, and we resent someone sitting next to us.
This is how we react to space on a two-dimensional level, but
we also react to it in three dimensions. Height gives dominance.
Height sends a slight subtext of intimidation. A friend of mine,
a salesman, is six feet four inches tall. "When I talk to a potential
customer," he told me, "I always manage to minimize my height.
I either sit on the edge of a desk if we are both standing, or I
try to seat myself so that I'll be lower. Sometimes I have to slump
a bit to do it. The point is, I don't want the customer to think
I'm pressuring him, dominating him."
Of course, there are times when my friend takes advantage of
his height in order to loom over someone when intimidation is a
useful tool! This use of height is similar to an invasion of space.
Some people deliberately use spatial invasion to send a particular
subtext. A manual on criminal interrogation and confession, for
instance, directs interrogating officers to sit close to the subject
without a table or desk between them, since the table or desk
can give the subject a sense of safety and relief. It is a protection
of sorts, and doing away with it leaves the subject more vulnerable.
The police officer is also directed, once interrogation begins,
to move the chair in closer, doing it subtly until one of the officer's
knees is between the subject's. This intense spatial invasion can
be so upsetting that the subject will often break down and tell
the police just what they want to know.
I have seen job interviewers use a less intense variation of
this same technique; moving in to violate the applicant's space