e/Privacy regulation theory

Information
has gloss	eng: Privacy regulation theory was developed by social psychologist Irwin Altman in 1975 (1975, 1977). This theory aims to explain why people sometimes prefer staying alone but sometimes like get involved in social interactions. Traditionally, privacy is regarded as a state of social withdrawal (i.e., avoiding people) (Palen & Dourish, 2003). Altman (1975), however, regards it as a dialectic and dynamic boundary regulation process where privacy is not static but “a selective control of access to the self or to one’s group” (p.18). According to Altman, “dialectic” refers to the openness and closeness of self to others (i.e., seeking and avoiding social interaction); while “dynamics” indicates that the desired privacy level (i.e., the ideal level of contact at a particular time), which varies due to individual and cultural differences, continuously moves along the continuum of openness and closeness in response to different circumstances over time. In other words, the desired privacy level changes with time according to environment. Therefore, we might want to avoid people at a particular time but desire contact at another time.
lexicalization	eng: privacy regulation theory
instance of	c/Psychological theories