Neighbourhood encounters

I took this pic some years ago but I think yesterday was the first time I used it, in a presentation to a British Council / iCoCo conference on community cohesion.

What I'd like you to do, if you wouldn't mind, is to ask yourself if these two people know each other.

And what is it that makes you think that?

Comments

[Mark, Newcastle upon Tyne]

The figure on the left may be a Chinese tourist, following the advice allegedly given by the Chinese Tourist Board on how to begin interactions with British people - talk to their dogs first.

Good to talk to you at the conference, Kevin.

[Kevin Harris]

Thanks Mark - Ted Cantle's comment about the advice to Chinese tourists reminded me of some research I wrote about a while back:

Research suggests that perceptions of a person’s likeability are enhanced by the presence of a dog. June McNicholas and Glyn Collis reported two studies in 2000 in which they used dogs trained not to attract attention. Their second study was carried out in city centre locations which would not normally be associated with dog-walking, using a range of combinations of dog and its male
handler standing at given points as if waiting, for thirty minute periods. At different times the handler was dressed scruffily or smartly; the dog looking well-looked-after or rough; and at others the man waited without the dog. The researchers recorded the numbers and kinds of interaction with other humans.

The most marked effect was the difference between having a dog and not having a dog. Out of 1,170 interactions, only 57 occurred when the man was
alone: even when the handler was scruffily dressed, interactions increased by over 790%. When he was smartly dressed, they increased by over 1,000%. As the researchers put it, ‘the dog removed or permitted the circumvention of
inhibitions against striking up casual conversations.’ You wanna meet people, get a dog.

Via: http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2007/10/dog-breaks-ice.html

kev

[Nick Booth]

I think not. Not sure why so here are some guesses. The body language seems a bit cautious for acquaintances or friends. More obviously I suppose is they seem to be talking about the dog - not to each other.

In general the park is a social space, a place where people know it may be ok to approach each other, the dog a social object which encourages conversation.

For me though the dog would be an anti-social object, discouraging conversation and that man would remain a stranger. In fact too many dogs would turn the park into an anti-social space for me.