Privacy regulation theory

Privacy regulation theory was developed by social psychologist Irwin Altman in 1975 to explain why people sometimes prefer staying alone but at other times enjoy being involved in social interactions, describing privacy as "a selective control of access to the self or to one's group". In order to regulate our privacy (i.e., social interaction) successfully, Altman argued people need to use a variety of behavioral mechanisms such as verbal, paraverbal and non-verbal behavior, environmental mechanisms of territoriality and personal space, etc.

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