Personal Space Expectations: Conform or Deviate? Burgoon defined personal space as the “invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that defines that individual’s preferred distance from others.”2 She claimed that the size and shape of our personal space depend on our cultural norms and individual preferences, but our space always reflects a compromise between the conflicting approach–avoidance needs that we as humans have for affiliation and privacy. The idea of personal space wasn’t original with Burgoon. In the 1960s, Illinois Institute of Technology anthropologist Edward Hall coined the term proxemics to refer to the study of people’s use of space as a special elaboration of culture.3 He entitled his book The Hidden Dimension because he was convinced that most spatial interpretation is outside our awareness. He claimed that Americans have four proxemic zones, which nicely correspond with the four interpersonal distances selected by my students:
Burgoon’s definition of personal space shows that the distance we keep from others is not accidental but shaped by both cultural norms and personal comfort levels. What stood out to me is the idea that personal space is a balance between our need for closeness and our need for privacy, which connects directly to Expectancy Violations Theory. This helps explain why the same behavior, like standing too close, can feel friendly to one person but uncomfortable or invasive to another. Hall’s concept of proxemics adds to this by emphasizing that many of these spatial expectations operate without us even realizing it, making violations more noticeable and impactful when they occur.