“Don’t stand so close to me!” How does your culture affect your attitude toward personal space?

Top Tip: Cultures have different attitudes to personal space. It’s important to understand what those attitudes are in order to achieve effective cross-cultural communication!

There is one culturally insightful flight in Europe that I’ll never forget. Time to board the plane. I slowly make my way through the narrow aisle. Fellow passengers, mostly Dutch – exchange “hallo’s” and apologise for an unintentional elbow bump, until the unexpected happened… A large group of Indian passengers, jostle their way to their seats and don’t seem to worry at all about collateral damage.

After good 30 minutes, the chaos subsided and everyone took their seat, enjoying a moment of comparative tranquility before take-off. Until… The ‘fasten seat belts’ sign pings off. In a blink of an eye, the group spread across the cabin to visit their friends and leaning on the backs of others’ seats while having a good chat.

Now, let’s think.

Was the group impolite? Ill-mannered? Invasive?

I wouldn’t say so. Their culture simply has different norms and attitudes around personal space.

Space

Every living being has its boundaries with the external world. From the physical boundary of the body, to the intangible personal space and the own ‘territory’. How far people let others into their territory, or how much distance they prefer to keep, depends on the level of relationships between them.

Altogether, these personal boundaries make the so-called ‘cultural space’. The extent of the personal boundaries that can or cannot be crossed in social situations greatly varies from culture to culture.

Understanding and maintaining an appropriate space is a crucial aspect of non-verbal communications. Across cultures, both encroaching on someone’s space, as well as beeing too distant can be considered “culturally inappropriate”.

E. Hall researched the different cultural attitudes to physical space – how far apart people stand during interaction; how much tactile contact is allowed; and even how people organise their homes, buildings and towns. The concept of usage of space was given the name ‘proxemics’.

Proxemics, noun.
Definition: Often referred to as personal space, proxemics is the study of the nature, degree, and effect of the spatial separation individuals naturally maintain (as in various social and interpersonal situations) and of how this separation relates to environmental and cultural factors.

Four Zones of Space

Hall (1966), categorized the distance or space people keep in interpersonal interactions into four zones, by the degree of closeness: intimate, personal, social and public distance.

Note: the following definitions are based on the average Western cultural profile and the descriptions may differ drastically in other cultures.

Intimate distance is the closest zone (1 to 46 cm). Direct physical contact, such as hugging and touching, and whispering take place within this zone. Handshakes, however, are not counted within the intimate distance. This is because they take place in more formal settings and the people create sufficient space in between by stretching out their arms. A very limited number of people from our social circles, close friends and family members, are allowed into this space.

Personal distance stretches from 46cm to 1.2m and is reserved for family members, friends and good acquaintances. People stand at an arm’s length and an occasional pat on the shoulder isn’t inappropriate. If a stranger intrudes on this personal space, it causes psychological discomfort. Sometimes it’s inevitable, for instance, in crowds or public transport, where it’s impossible to create more space or remove oneself from the environment. In this case, people try to ‘shield’ themselves mentally – close their eyes, read a book, listen to music through earphones.

Social distance is the next layer, from 1.2 to 3.7 m. It’s maintained in formal settings, between collegues, new acquaintances and strangers in public places. If a stranger moves beyond these boundaries in a conversation, it feels uncomfortable and threatening, and you’d naturally try to step away from the intruder.

Public distance (3.7 – 7.6m and over 7.6) is the space for speaking in front of the larger audiences, such as in classrooms, auditoriums, theaters and so on. In such events, the speakers make noticeable changes in their language. They choose a different speech register and appeal. They switch their non-verbal behaviours – speaking louder and changing posture in a way to appear more confident.

Cultural implications

Intimate distance

How appropriate (or necessary?) is it to touch someone to get your point across during negotiations?

The research has shown that Americans (US) and Japanese never touch. In contrast to Brazilians who touched on average 4.7 times per 30 min, which is approximately once in every 6 min (Graham, 1985).

Personal Distance

An illustrative example is a subway train during rush hours. In Western Europe, you’ll individuals protecting their personal space with a shield of a newspaper, crossed arms, or grim faces. People in India or China, handle the journey in an even more crowded train, displaying less discomfort, at least on the surface.

Social Distance

Imagine a casual meeting, say, a cocktail party, in a few different countries. A number of studies have revealed interesting results:

Japanese tend to keep 91cm distance during a conversation (Engholm, 1991).
For Belgians, a comfortable distance is 60-65 cm (Verlyuten).
In some Arab cultures, it’s as small as 23 cm. There’s even a saying that a proper conversation is when you ‘feel the breath coming out of his mouth’ (Nydell, 1987).

Reasons to be mindful about proxemics.

• Every culture has its own understanding, habits and norms around personal space in interactions and social situations. Violation of these unspoken rules can have serious negative consequences on your cross-cultural communications.

• Personal space is a valued psychological barrier for an individual and shouldn’t be crossed even unintentionally. Some people may try to stand closer because it demonstrates friendly attitude in their culture, while for others it is seen as aggression.

• While touching a stranger or a casual acquaintance is inacceptable for Northern Europeans, rejecting a hug or a kiss may be insultingin Southern European and Latin American cultures.

As you can see, too much distance can be as risky as too little distance. The same gesture may be interpreted in a totally opposite way by people of a different background. If you make someone feel intruded on by crossing their personal space boundaries, or vice-versa, not welcomed by staying too distant, the person will focus on maintaining the comfortable space (stepping away or moving closer), instead of being fully engaged in the conversation.

So, it is critical to be aware of the cultural rules and practices around proxemics. That way you’ll avoid misinterpretation and ensure effective cross-cultural interaction.

References

Engholm, C. 1991. When business East meets business West: A guide to practice and protocol in the Pacific Rim. NY: Wiley. – 136.

Graham, John. (1985). The Influence of Culture on the Process of Business Negotiations: An Exploratory Study. Journal of International Business Studies.

Hall, E. T. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Hall, E. T. (October 1963). “A System for the Notation of Proxemic Behavior”. American Anthropologist. 65 (5).

Nydell, M. K. (1987). Understanding Arabs: A guide for Westerners. – 44.

Verluyten, S. (2012). Intercultural Skills for International Business and International Relations. Leuven, Belgium: Acco.