Abstract

The theoretical background on personal space behavior is reviewed from the viewpoints of ethology, anthropology, and personality/ social psychology. The body-boundary system, territoriality, concentric circle, nonconcentric fluctuating globes, and situationally-evoked oscillating ring are considered as the concept of personal space. In the second part, the current methodology of personal space measurement is discussed. The specific methods are classified as follows : field/ real life/ natural observation, laboratory/ experimental manipulation, simulation, and paper-and-pencil techniques. In addition, the necessity of new methods for mare objective and scientific measurement is proposed.