Spaces—informal, semifixed-feature, and fixed-feature

Of course, the nature of our environment affects the amount of distance we are able to maintain between ourselves and others. Researchers in nonverbal communication divide environmental spaces into three classifications: informal, semifixed-feature, and fixed-feature. These categories are based on the per­ceived permanence of any physical space.

Informal space is a highly mobile, quickly changing space that ranges from intimate to public (from no space between us and others to 25 feet or more . Informal space functions like a personal "bubble" that we can enlarge to keep people at a distance or decrease to permit them to get closer.

In contrast to informal space, semifixed-feature space employs objects to create distance. Semifixed features include chairs, benches, sofas, plants, and other movable items. (Today some office walls and partitions can be classified as semifixed features, since they are designed to be relocated as spatial require­ments change.) Researchers have found that barriers such as desks can reduce interaction. One study of doctor-patient relationships found that patients were more at ease speaking with a physician seated in a chair across from them than they were when the physician was sitting behind a desk. Why do you think this was so? To what extent do you feel the same way about your instructor? Why do you think police interrogators are sometimes advised to eliminate bar­riers between themselves and the person they are questioning? In many public places, if interaction is desired, the space will usually contain chairs facing each other. Such arrangements are found in bars, restaurants, and lounges. In con­trast, the chairs in waiting rooms at airports or bus terminals are often bolted together in long parallel rows. One manufacturer designed a chair to create an uncomfortable pressure on the spine after the sitter has spent a few moments in it; this chair is meant to be used in spaces where it is considered undesirable for people to spend time interacting.

Fixed-feature space contains relatively permanent objects that define the environment around us. Fixed features include immovable walls, doors, trees, sidewalks, roads, and highways. Such features help guide and control our actions. For example, most classrooms are rectangular with windows along one side, usually to the students' left. The window location also determines the front of the room. Apartment entrances that open onto a common rotunda increase the opportunity for communication among tenants, as do swimming pools and parks. Fences, on the other hand, can serve to inhibit communica­tion. Shopping malls and department stores rely on fixed features to help route pedestrian traffic in certain directions that will increase sales. The next time you shop in a carefully designed store, examine its fixed features. Can you walk unimpeded to any department, or are you carefully "directed" through the perfumes, lingerie, and knickknacks? Why?