Intimate distance, involving direct contact, such as that of lovemaking, comforting, protecting, and playing football or wrestling.
Personal distance, ranging from 30 cm to 120 cm. At arm’s length, subjects of personal interest can be discussed while physical contact, such as holding hands or hitting the other person in the nose, is still possible.
Social distance, ranging from 120 cm to 4 meters. At this distance, more formal business and social discourse takes place.
Public distance, ranging from 4 meters to 8 meters or more. No physical contact and very little direct eye contact are possible. Shopping centers, airports, and city sidewalks are designed to maintain this type of distance.
– The peripersonal space is an adaptive and flexible interface between the body and the environment that fulfills a dual-motor function: preparing the body for voluntary object-oriented actions to interact with incentive stimuli and preparing the body for defensive responses when facing potentially harmful stimuli. = the organization of social life
Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.636124/full