4 Chapter 4 – Personal Space

Proxemics

The next four chapters deal with four interrelated topics – personal space, crowding, territoriality, and privacy that all make up the sub-field of proxemics. Proxemics refers to how people use space. As we live our lives, we need to operate within an environment. Throughout our lives, we have learned thousands of rules about how close is appropriate to get to one another, under what situations space can be designated as “ours” vs. “someone else’s”, and whether we feel comfortable approaching someone or being approached. The sub-field of proxemics is the study of these and other rules and how people use these rules to manage the spaces in their lives.

Interpersonal Space

We will use the term interpersonal space to refer to the general topic area of how much space feels comfortable to give other people when we interact with them. It’s possible you have heard the term “personal space” to refer to this topic. However, we will use the term interpersonal space because as the term “personal space” will be used in a more specific way. So, interpersonal space will refer to the general topic and personal space will refer to a specific amount of space given with specific people. More details about this will be provided below.

Interpersonal space is the most researched topic in the field of proxemics. However, most studies on interpersonal space seek to answer smaller scale questions about individuals. To date, we do not have a large-scale, integrative theory about why we have interpersonal space. We know how individuals tend to exist within interpersonal space and the important contexts that can alter and adjust the rules people follow when interacting with others. However, we do not know many of the whys about personal space.

The first rule of personal space is that who one is interacting with matters a great deal in how much space people give one another. There tend to be four zones of space and we tend to move to the edges of each zone depending on who we are interacting. Within each category, a general range of how much space is used for each one is given but note that these are ranges are flexible ranges We will discuss the reasons for this flexibility later in the chapter.

Public Space: Public space is for anyone in the general public. Public speakers talking to a general audience tend to use this level. We tend to not be bothered by anyone coming into our public space. Public space exists anywhere between 12 and 30 feet.

Social Space: Social space is for anyone we are engaged with in a back-and-forth interaction. We may not know the people we engage with in these interactions, but we are open to conversations with these people. Many business interactions are conducted in social space. We might be bothered by a random stranger that we don’t want to interact with entering our social space, but generally most people are welcome. Social space exists between 4-12 feet.

Personal Space: Personal space refers to the amount of space we give to close friends. We tend to stand much closer to our close friends than we are to conversation partners we don’t know. Personal space tends to be between 2.5-4 feet.

Intimate Space: Intimate space is the amount of space we give to our closest relationships. Generally, only intimate partners, close family, and pets are allowed within intimate space. If anyone else were to come into this space, we tend to feel uncomfortable and mildly upset. Intimate space tends to be between 0-0.5 feet.

The second rule of personal space is that different cultures have different levels that the zones of space exist in. Some cultures are referred to as contact cultures. In contact cultures, the zones of space tend to be smaller and closer together. Public space might be 6 feet, Social 3, Personal 1, and intimate 0. In some contact cultures, it would be viewed as strange to be in conversation with someone and not be in direct, physical contact with them. Other cultures are referred to as non-contact cultures. In non-contact cultures, space is extended. Public space might be 12, Social 6, Personal 3, and Intimate 0.5. In these cultures, close contact can be uncomfortable, even among close relationships. Even interactions like being in line at the grocery store might become uncomfortable with people from non-contact cultures.

We don’t know much about why a culture develops into a contact vs. non-contact culture. We do know that there seems to be a correlation with geography with contact cultures tending to be closer to the equator and non-contact cultures tending to be at latitudes further away from the equator. However, without an understanding of why that correlation might exist, we don’t have a way of understanding or contextualizing that relationship. It could be a spurious relationship that doesn’t mean anything, or it could be just a curious quirk of cultural development. No one is sure at this moment.

The third rule of interpersonal space is that interpersonal space moves with the person. Our zones of interpersonal space are always centered on the person. Interpersonal space is tied to our  physical bodies. However, interpersonal space is shaped in an odd way. It tends to be closer in at the feet, widens out at the hips and continues up toward the head. The shape could be visualized as a cone with the narrow end at the feet that moves up to the hips and then the sides go straight up from the hips to the head. This can be seen when people get too close to someone and that person feels uncomfortable. The person who is having their space invaded tends to lean back at the hips but leave their feet stationary. This is because the person feels most uncomfortable with the closeness to head and hips. Closeness to the feet is not nearly as bothersome.

Summary

Interpersonal space refers to how much space we are comfortable giving others given our relationship with them. There are four zones of interpersonal space, public space, social space, personal space, and intimate space. Who is welcome in each zone depends on our relationship with that person. Different cultures also tend to adjust the ranges of which relationships are welcome in which spaces. Finally, interpersonal space is centered on a person’s body and tends to be shaped like a football that has been cut in half with the pointed end at the feet.