1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger here. If you like to stand close 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: to folks when you talk to them, you'll love Argentina. 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: The South American country is filled with close talkers, people 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: who stand two point five feet or point seven six 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: meters away from strangers when they're chatting. But if you 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: prefer more personal space, make your way to Romania instead. 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: Their residents like to stand a spacious four point five 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,239 Speaker 1: feet or one point four meters away from strangers. This 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: info on personal bubbles comes from a study of preferred 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: interpersonal distances recently published in the Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology. 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: While this issue of personal space in different countries has 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: been examined before, the authors of this study used a 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: much larger data set than was used in previous studies, 15 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: nearly nine thousand people living in forty two countries. Participants 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: were shown a picture with two figures representing two people 17 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 1: and a line with some distances marked off in between them. 18 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: The subjects were asked how close should the two figures 19 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: stand together if they are strangers versus close friends, versus 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: colleagues or acquaintances. The subjects were to assume they were 21 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: one of the two figures. The scientists found that residents 22 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: of Argentina, Peru, and Bulgaria stand the closest to strangers, 23 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: while those from Romania, Hungary, and Saudi Arabia want the 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: most space. Americans were somewhere in the middle. The researchers 25 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,320 Speaker 1: also studied the personal bubbles we draw between ourselves and 26 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: family and friends. We're all fine with our family and 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: friends standing closer to us than strangers, no surprise there, 28 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: and our general bubble size with our friends stays consistent. 29 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: That is, if we like more personal space, will keep 30 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: our friends farther away than those who are fine with 31 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: less personal space. But intriguingly, things change when it comes 32 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: to close friends or loved ones. The Romanians, who like 33 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: a lot of personal space between themselves and both strangers 34 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: and colleagues, like their intimate relations to be fairly close 35 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: to them about one point five feet or point four 36 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: five meters. That is closer than almost any other group 37 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: studied in the Norwegians, whose preference for stranger distance is 38 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle of the forty two countries studied, 39 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: want their close friends to be closer to them than 40 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 1: any other group about one point three feet or point 41 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: four meters. Scientists say it appears temperature has something to 42 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: do with personal space. Those living in colder climates often 43 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: prefer to be quite near to their friends, perhaps as 44 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: a way to stay warm, and those residing in warm 45 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: climates often stand closer to strangers. At least one past 46 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: study showed when it's warm, people move in closer to 47 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: one another. Today's episode was written by Melanie rad Zeke 48 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: McManus and produced by Dylan Fagan. For more on this 49 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: and other topics, please visit us at how stuff works 50 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: dot com.