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Cited by 468Cultural Differences and ValuesEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorLanguage, Communication, and Linguistic Studies

Preferred interpersonal distances: A global comparison

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Sorokowska, Agnieszka, Sorokowski, Piotr, Hilpert, Peter, Cantarero, Katarzyna, Frackowiak, Tomasz, Ahmadi, Khodabakhsh, Alghraibeh, Ahmad M., Aryeetey, Richmond +71 more·2017·Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
DOI 10.1177/0022022117698039
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Abstract

Human spatial behavior has been the focus of hundreds of previous research studies. However, the conclusions and generalizability of previous studies on interpersonal distance preferences were limited by some important methodological and sampling issues. The objective of the present study was to compare preferred interpersonal distances across the world and to overcome the problems observed in previous studies. We present an extensive analysis of interpersonal distances over a large data set ( N = 8,943 participants from 42 countries). We attempted to relate the preferred social, personal, and intimate distances observed in each country to a set of individual characteristics of the participants, and some attributes of their cultures. Our study indicates that individual characteristics (age and gender) influence interpersonal space preferences and that some variation in results can be explained by temperature in a given region. We also present objective values of preferred interpersonal distances in different regions, which might be used as a reference data point in future studies.

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  • Self-PPS may contribute to gaining social, temporal, and physical proximity with others around us in addition to the regulation of social distances.

    “In this way, self PPS may contribute to gaining social, temporal and physical proximity with the others around us in addition to the regulation of social distances (Parkinson, Liu, & Wheatley, 2014;Ruggiero et al., 2019;Sorokowska et al., 2017).”

    From The Peripersonal Space in a social world (2021) · cites this paper as Sorokowska et al., 2017

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says interpersonal space helps regulate intimacy and that closer distances increase sensory exposure, supporting the social-distance and physical-proximity aspects. It does not discuss self-PPS or gaining temporal proximity, so those parts of the attributed claim are unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Borisova L.V., & Butovskaya M.L. (2004) Spatial behavior in modern Russian urban culture: age and gender factors. In: M.L. Butovskaya (Ed.) Human Ethology: Modern Quantitative Methods (pp. 13-20). Moscow, Russia.
  2. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations. Thousands Oaks: Sage Publications.

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Authors
Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Hilpert, P., Cantarero, K., Frackowiak, T., Ahmadi, K., Alghraibeh, A. M., Aryeetey, R., Bertoni, A., Bettache, K., Blumen, S., Błażejewska, M., Bortolini, T., Butovskaya, M., Castro, F. N., Cetinkaya, H., Cunha, D., David, D., David, O. A., Dileym, F. A., Domínguez Espinosa, A. D. C., Donato, S., Dronova, D., Dural, S., Fialová, J., Fisher, M., Gulbetekin, E., Hamamcıoğlu Akkaya, A., Hromatko, I., Iafrate, R., Iesyp, M., James, B., Jaranovic, J., Jiang, F., Kimamo, C. O., Kjelvik, G., Koç, F., Laar, A., de Araújo Lopes, F., Macbeth, G., Marcano, N. M., Martinez, R., Mesko, N., Molodovskaya, N., Moradi, K., Motahari, Z., Mühlhauser, A., Natividade, J. C., Ntayi, J., Oberzaucher, E., Ojedokun, O., Omar-Fauzee, M. S. B., Onyishi, I. E., Paluszak, A., Portugal, A., Razumiejczyk, E., Realo, A., Relvas, A. P., Rivas, M., Rizwan, M., Salkičević, S., Sarmány-Schuller, I., Schmehl, S., Senyk, O., Sinding, C., Stamkou, E., Stoyanova, S., Šukolová, D., Sutresna, N., Tadinac, M., Teras, A., Tinoco Ponciano, E. L., Tripathi, R., Tripathi, N., Tripathi, M., Uhryn, O., Yamamoto, M. E., Yoo, G., & Pierce, J. D.
Affiliations
  • University of Wrocław (PL)
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  • Uniwersytet SWPS (PL)
  • University of Wroclaw, Poland
  • Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences (IR)
  • King Saud University (SA)
  • University of Ghana (GH)
  • Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT)
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
  • Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PE)
  • Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
  • Russian State University for the Humanities (RU)
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
  • Ankara University, Turkey
  • University of Coimbra (PT)
  • Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
  • Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography (RU)
  • İzmir University of Economics (TR)
  • Charles University (CZ)
  • Saint Mary's University (CA)
  • Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
  • Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
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  • Lviv University (UA)
  • Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria
  • University of Belgrade, Serbia
  • Central University of Finance and Economics (CN)
  • University of Nairobi (KE)
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
  • Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi (TR)
  • Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
  • Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos (AR)
  • Philadelphia University (US)
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  • University of Pécs, Hungary
  • Razi University (IR)
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  • Makerere University (UG)
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  • University of Karachi (PK)
  • Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (SK)
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  • Matej Bel University (SK)
  • Indonesia University of Education (ID)
  • Mõttemaru OÜ, Tartu, Estonia
  • Rio de Janeiro State University, Brazil
  • Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IN)
  • Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IN)
  • Lviv State University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine
  • Kyung Hee University (KR)
Corresponding author
Sorokowska, Agnieszka
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2017-03-22
Volume
48
Issue
4
Pages
577-592
ISSN
  • 0022-0221 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-5422
DOI
10.1177/0022022117698039
OpenAlex
W2601252140
Cited by
468
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 2
FWCI
37.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
  • Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
  • Open Research (University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • IRIS (submittedVersion)
  • Qucosa (Saxon State and University Library Dresden) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • CONICET Digital (CONICET) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Grantová Agentura české Republiky (GACR 14-02290S grant to Jitka Fialov�)
  • Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Iuventus Plus grant #IP2014 043773, Scholarship to AS for years 2013�2016, Scholarships to PS for years 2012�2017)
  • Narodowe Centrum Nauki (ETIUDA scholarship #2013/08/T/HS6/00408 to AS)
  • Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University (Support to Ahmad M. Alghraibeh)
  • Grant Agency of Czech Republic (GAUK 918214 grant to Jitka Fialová)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Language, Communication, and Linguistic Studies
Keywords
interpersonal distance, personal space, social distance, cross-cultural comparison, age differences, gender differences, temperature effects, cultural values, spatial behavior

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