Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Hilpert, P., Cantarero, K., Frackowiak, T., Ahmadi, K., … & Pierce Jr, J. D. (2017). Preferred interpersonal distances: a global comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(4), 577-592.

Authors have shown that many past studies have focused on human spatial behavior. They noted, however, certain key methodological and sample difficulties of earlier studies on interpersonal distance preferences have made the conclusions limited in their generalizability.

The aim of their study was to compare preferred interpersonal distances around the world and to address issues that had arisen in prior investigations. A large data set (N = 8,943 people from 42 countries) was used to conduct an exhaustive examination of interpersonal distances. The authors tried to explore the relations of the desired social, personal, and intimate distances observed in each nation with a set of participant characteristics as well as some cultural features.

Individual traits (age and gender) influence interpersonal space preferences, according to their research, and some variation in results are explained by local temperature and climate. The authors also proposed objective values for preferred interpersonal distances in various regions, which they believe can be utilized as a benchmark in future research.

Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Hilpert, P., Cantarero, K., Frackowiak, T., Ahmadi, K., … & Pierce Jr, J. D. (2017). Preferred interpersonal distances: a global comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(4), 577-592. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117698039