[Leica] Re: Codes of privacy

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On May 18, 2006, at 3:13 PM, George wrote:

> Nope. Ken nailed it with "codes of privacy" when folks live close and/
> or with paper walls or no walls at all. The public bath/nudity/shower/
> urinal mode came from elsewhere. However each of these also carries
> codes of privacy. But I think psychologically different than the
> codes used in clothed situations.

There is a concept called "cognitive homeostasis" in Environmental 
Psychology which suggests that people try to optimize their information 
input and output to stay within a comfort zone. In the high density 
environments of urban societies people develop behaviors which restrict 
and control information flow to avoid information overload. The 
seemingly unsociable behavior of New York, London, and Tokyo exists to 
permit people to be in close proximity without the necessity of 
acknowledging the existence of the "other." In an office, on the 
sidewalk, and in school, a simple nod may be all the greeting that is 
necessary when passing by casual friends. No acknowledgment is 
necessary for strangers. In a low density environment, the cognitive 
homeostasis theory predicts that one will amplify even casual 
interactions to raise the information flow. I.e., when some asks "How 
are you feeling?", you tell them at great length. Anyone who has 
watched two Iowa farmers stop their pickups in the middle of a lonely 
country road, roll down their windows, and carry on a conversation 
knows this to be a fact.

Larry Z