This article discusses why it is so uncomfortable to stand really close to a stranger. This one unanswered question that most people seem to agree with has to do with the amygdalae. The amygdala is part of the brain that consists of regions deep within each temporal lobe controlling fear and the processing of emotion. The first most important point deals with why the amygdalae has come into play. This part of the brain is responsible for keeping you from getting too close to another person, especially if he or she is in your ‘personal space.’ In order to prove this theory, a team of scientists from Caltech chose to do an experiment on a middle—aged woman suffering from Urbach—Wiethe disease, which causes calcification in the temporal lobes. This woman was put through a bunch of tests that required her to determine how uncomfortable she became when another human being approached her and her specific display of emotion towards that person. It was concluded that this woman’s preferred personal distance was 1.1 feet. It has been verified that at 1 foot, it is easy to tell someone’s hygiene, for example, whether or not that person has showered. When standing that close to someone, it can trigger all kinds of emotions and feelings towards that person and you may even make a face without noticing that you are doing it.
The subject was asked to walk toward an experimenter and then stop whenever she felt a comfortable distance between the two of them. This woman felt so comfortable that she got as close as touching the experimenter’s nose. After adding eight subjects whom have healthy amygdalae, there was a difference in how the healthy amygdalae responds to personal space compared to how an unhealthy amygdalae responds. The subjects with healthy amygdaelae were not as comfortable with a stranger being within a certain distance of themselves. Even if they could not see or hear the experimenter, they were still uncomfortable and displayed various types of emotion that portrayed their uncomfortable feeling. Past research has been proven to show that the brain’s limbic system has a reaction in response to sexually arousing stimuli. In most cases, if we are attracted to someone, there is an initial spark that provokes our response to that stranger, mainly dealing with interest and intrigue and thus the feeling of a particular emotion.
This article digs deeper into the more scientific reasoning, which deals with the amygdalae, a part of the brain that controls fear and processing emotions. It is important to understand this scientific explanation in order to dig deeper behind the reasons for the way people act and how they choose to show it in response to certain gestures and facial expressions.
This is great at explaing this "problem"!!
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