Being near to proximity with strangers creates interpersonal stiffness. We can't help it. Tension automatically seeks image resolution. What do you do? Do you acknowledge anybody now only a short distance away, or pretend not to notice? Avoidance is one strategy: never make eye-to-eye contact and wedding if nobody is there, even while your feelings tell you otherwise. From a supermarket checkout line place leaf through a magazine. On elevators, we routinely avoid others accessible up in the floor ...