Population Density
Brian Jolley
Psy 460
July 9, 2012
George Lawrence-Ell

Intro
Population density is a term used to describe the number of organisms that live in a given area. The ratio organisms to the size of the area are determined by dividing the number of people by the size of the area that they occupied. Currently the average population density in the United States of America is about 73 individuals per square mile. This number is the average for the entire United States but there are areas of that far exceed that average. Population density can have a profound effect on the daily life of average Americans. A town with 20 people per square mile will have different issues than a place such as Guttenberg New Jersey which has 58,000 people per square mile. Areas with high population density can have issues such as decreased privacy and excessive population noise. In most cases, as population density increases, that larger population will produce more noise and more areas will be crowded. Individuals that live in areas where high population density exist also have a harder time maintaining privacy, so person's territorial tendencies must change and adapt. In order to fully grasp the concept of how population density affects the average person the concepts of personal space and privacy, territoriality, and noise must be understood.
Noise
The idea of noise is very subjective issue. What is considered noise to one person can be music to another person ears. Technically speaking the definition of noise is sound or a sound that is loud, unpleasant, unexpected, or undesired. When discussing noise it is so important to identify and classify noise by different characteristics such as amplification, Timbre, and pitch which are all physical attributes of noise. Decibels are used to measure how loud a noise is or its amplification. Hertz is used to measure the frequency of a noise. It can be classified as anything such as the sound that comes from airplanes, trucks, trains, cars, to a rock concert and party, construction work, and many other sound producing activities. Individuals that live by airports for example are 50% more likely to be bothered by the noise that that airport produces and generally experience four times the amount of noise that occupants other different areas experience.
Perspective
A good example of perspective, noise, and how it can change is Oceana Naval Base in Virginia Beach, Virginia. For many years it has been a controversy on the amount of jet noise that is produced by training missions flown in certain areas of Virginia Beach. They're often groups picketing near Oceana because they would like to jet noise to stop. This attitude changed after the terrible events of September 11, 2001. What was once psychologically classified by these people as chronic noise became the sounds of our nation’s pilots preparing to protect America. The “I hate jet noise” movement became the “I love jet noise” movement over night. So this is another example where noise is subjective, depending on an individual or group's perception of that noise. Noise can be devastating to an individual's psyche. Noises are used by police and The United States Military to handle hostage situations. There seems to be certain songs, at certain decibels can literally drive an individual to psychological breakdown. City planners are always looking for ways to reduce and mediate the means by which environmental stimulus produced. Cities are now taking noise and the mediation of said noise very seriously.

Reduction
There're many things that are being done today to try to reduce noise in residential areas. Most highways now have sound isolation barriers that reflect noise back to the center and prevented from making its way into neighborhoods that line highways. There is also technologies being used to create noise canceling waves that counteract repetitive noises such as jackhammers or the rumble of jet engines. This technology can be seen in many of the Bose sound canceling headphones recommended for airplane use. Sound absorbing and noise canceling technology has made its way into home and car construction. Cars today are built to be so quiet and keep you so isolated from noise that is hard to tell whether the car is idling or not. Sound isolation material that reduces vibrations by using rubber grommets and other materials are used in the construction of many of today's transportation vehicles such as cars, trains, and also in luxury applications such as crew ships. Most areas across America also have noise ordinances or that ban the producing of noise that travels into the homes of others and can cause you to pay a hefty fee in some cases. On the flipside the reduction of noise is also been the cause of some accidents. In the Hampton Roads area there have been a few cases of individuals being struck by electric vehicles because of the lack of engine noise associated with them. The HRTide or our mass transit system has electric streetcars that are so quiet that they have also been involved in number of accidents with motor vehicles that simply did not hear them coming.
Territory, Privacy, and Personal Space The idea of territory, privacy, and personal space are also subjective depending on who you are and where you are at. I would use the example of when I left home for the first time. I joined the military and shared a large barracks room a little with 50 other individuals. We had five toilets, eight showerheads, and eight sinks in our bathroom. The shower heads were in one large open area shower with absolutely no privacy and the toilet stalls did not have doors. When going to the bathroom of the next person that had to go was required to stand at attention facing the stall, essentially looking to put the person in the eyes that was doing their business. My territory or personal space was a 3' x 1' locker that no one was allowed to go in besides me, that held on my personal effects. That was my territory at age 17. At age 33, I now have a four bedroom house on a pretty large plot of land. My personal territory now extends out to the border of my land. So in the span of 16 years my territory changed from a 3' x 1' area to around 2 acres. When thinking of territory, there are really three types of territory. The first type territory was known as primary territory. Primary territory is territory that is owned exclusively by that individual such as the individual’s residence. Secondary territory is territory that is not exclusively owned by the individual such as a community pool house. The last type of the territory is known as public territory. Public territories are a small area that you have established in a public area such as a picnic table in a public park. For the most part the lines of these areas are generally very clear and people will react accordingly when they feel that their territories are threatened.

Territory, Privacy, and Personal Space
It may relay individual set territories it so that they can mean maintain some degree of privacy. Privacy is defined as place definition of privacy here. Privacy is a very important aspect of the human condition and in most cases privacy is seen as a right and not a privilege.
Conclusion
Personal space is an imaginary boundary or invisible boundary established by an individual that is essentially the mobile territory surrounded by ones self. This personal space can be violated if someone gives inside ones personal bubble figuratively speaking. Personal space is broken up into different distances. An intimate distance is from touching to 18 inches, the personal distance is from 18 inches to 48 inches, a social distance is from 4 to 12 feet, and a public distance is from 12 to 25 feet. These distances differ depending on a person's social and cultural upbringing. Every person has been around that person that does not understand the concept of personal space, or as Jerry Seinfeld highlighted in one of his episodes of The Seinfeld Show, a close talker. To determine the appropriate distance that they are comfortable it is important to let the individual that they are interacting with know that they're violating their personal space.

References
Gorji-Bandpy, M., & Azimi, M. (2012). Technologies for jet noise reduction in turbofan engines. Aviation (1648-7788)

Clayton, S. & Myers, G. (2009). Conservation psychology: Understanding and promoting human care for nature. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

McGrath, L. C. (2011). SOCIAL NETWORKING PRIVACY: IMPORTANT OR NOT?. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business