Shopping Malls: Measuring Interpersonal Distance under Changing Conditions and across Cultures

Abstract

This research measures interpersonal distances between shopping mall users under changing conditions of enclosure and density. It also explores the relationship between culture and interpersonal distance. Four shopping malls in Turkey and the United States are used. The research is carried out through unobtrusive observations with time-lapse digital photography to record naturally occurring interactions between mall users. More than three thousand interpersonal distances are measured. Type of enclosure is defined by the exploratory surveys, and density conditions of each area are measured after manual counts of people present in the digital photographs of open and enclosed mall areas. Overall comparisons and descriptions provide evidence about cross-cultural, age, and gender differences in interpersonal distance. Pairs in Turkish malls interact more closely than those in U.S. malls; adolescents interacting with other adolescents have the largest interpersonal distance; male—female pairs interact more closely than male—male and female—female pairs in all malls.