Observe that when you move toward a stranger in any social setting, they will at some point attempt if possible to move away to reestablish their personal space. Accepting this as a statistical fact, what would best explain this; evolution, electromagnetism, or some universal cultural norm. For extra bragging rights, what are the dimensions of this personal space?
What is the universal space claimed by people when encroached by a stranger?
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Printed from: http://arezeez.com/2009/08/31/what-is-the-universal-space-claimed-by-people-when-encroached-by-a-stranger/ .
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© 2010.
the typical personal space bubble is about 18 inches from the persons body.
I don’t think this is a cultural phenomena, i think it has something to do with the electro-chemical make up of the body. this is best demonstrated when a person gets too close, you almost get a ringing or slight change in pressure in the inner ear and then the urge to move farther away. This even happens when you are not looking a t the person that has gotten too close.
This could also be attributed to the fight or flight mechanism that all creatures have.
Personal zone. Usualy 1.5 feet, depends on the individual on how comfortable they are with people getting close to them
Its whatever you are comfortable with. For some that might mean 10 feet; others, up close and personal.
It varies by culture.
"While difficult to gauge, the best estimates for personal physical space place it at about 24.5 inches (60 centimeters) on either side, 27.5 inches (70 centimeters) in front and 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) behind for an average westerner."
http://www.internationalstudents.org/culture-etiquette-space.php?idlv2=62&idlv3=142
"Personal zones of space vary from culture to culture. … Low-contact cultures (North American, Northern Europeans, Asian) favor the Social Zone for interaction and little, if any, physical contact. High-contact cultures (Mediterranean, Arab, Latin) prefer the Intimate and Personal Zones and much contact between people. Misunderstandings can occur when these two groups interact and either invade or avoid space and contact. "
http://www.bremercommunications.com/Proxemics_How_We_Use_Space.htm
You can imagine a party with high and low contact members. Low contact will continually back away as the high contact person wants to get in their comfort zone.
This question is actually impossible to answer. It is bred into us by our culture and our families. Each person, each culture and each set of people have different ideals of what their appropriate amount of "personal space" is when meeting someone new.
This relatively varies by culture. However, the standard rule is that the more intimate we are or would like to be with another person, relationship-wise, the closer we feel comfortable having them stand near to us. How we assess another person from a social perspective (i.e. how desirable we find that person, perhaps just from a potential friend perspective) will likely play a big role in how close we unconsciously allow the person to come near us (or how close we would prefer them to come near us, as peoples’ social sensitivities aren’t all the same). One interesting thing to note is how close people stand next to one another in line in different cultures around the world. In US queues, we typically give each other some "breathing room," which is not the case, for example, in Eastern Europe.