The concept of personal space refers to the personal physical distance that we maintain in our social interaction.
It is important for following reasons:
(i) It explains many of the negative effect of crowding as an environment stressor.
(ii) It tells us about social relations. For examples, two people sitting or standing close tighter are seen to be friends.
It gives us idea about how physical space can be modified in order to reduce stress or discomfort in real life situations.
Everyone has desire of personal space. Males generally have a larger personal space than females. Degree of personal space differ from culture to culture.
Personal space can vary between people, between situations and settings and between cultures. Edward Hall, an anthropologist, mentioned four kinds of interpersonal physical distance—intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance.
