Space Invaders - Territories and Personal Spaceas the size of the mob increases, it becomes angrier and uglier
and fights may break out. The police try to break up the crowd
so that each person can regain his own personal space and
become calmer.
Only in recent years have governments and town planners
begun to understand the effect that high-density housing proj-
ects have in depriving individuals of their personal territory.
The consequences of high-density living and overcrowding
were seen in a study of the deer population on James Island,
an island about a mile (2 kilometres) off the coast of Mary-
land in Chesapeake Bay in the United States. Many of the deer
were dying in large numbers, despite the fact that at the time
there was plenty of food, predators were not evident and infec-
tion was not present. Similar studies in earlier years with rats
and rabbits revealed the same trend and further investigation
showed that the deer had died as a result of overactive adrenal
glands, resulting from the stress caused by the degradation of
each deer's personal territory as the population increased. The
adrenal glands play an important part in the regulation of
growth, reproduction and the level of the body's defences. A
physiological reaction to the stress of overpopulation had
caused the deaths, not starvation, infection or aggression from
others. This is why areas that have the highest human popula-
tion density also have the highest crime and violence rates.
One of our deepest urges is the desire to own
land. This compulsion comes from the fact that it
gives us the space freedom we need.Interrogators use territorial invasion techniques to break
down the resistance of criminals being questioned. They seat
the criminal on an armless, fixed chair in an open area of the
room and encroach into his intimate and close Intimate Zones
when asking questions, remaining there until he answers. It
often takes only a short while for this territorial harassment to
break down the criminal's resistance.