Bus shelter with seats with armrests, designed to deter proximity, as well as sleeping.

The term proxemics was introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1963 to describe the measureable distances between people as they interacted. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1585x1375, 766 KB) Bus shelter at the Massachusetts Avenue - Hynes Convention Center en:Green Line (MBTA) station in en:Boston. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1585x1375, 766 KB) Bus shelter at the Massachusetts Avenue - Hynes Convention Center en:Green Line (MBTA) station in en:Boston. ... Look up chair in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Edward T. Hall (born May 16, 1914, Webster Groves, Missouri) is a respected anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher. ... Template:C20YearInnTopic 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...

Hall pointed out that social distance between people is reliably correlated with physical distance, and described four distances:

• intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering (15-45 cm, 6-18 inches)
• personal distance for interactions among good friends (45-120 cm, 1.5-4 feet)
• social distance for interactions among acquaintances (1.2-3.5 m, 4-12 ft)
• public distance used for public speaking (over 3.5 m, 12 ft)

Hall pointed out that different cultures maintain different standards of personal space. In Latin cultures, for instance, those relative distances are smaller, and people tend to be more comfortable standing close to each other; in Nordic cultures the opposite is true. Realizing and recognizing these cultural differences improves cross-cultural understanding, and helps eliminate discomfort people may feel if the interpersonal distance is too large ("stand-offish") or too small (intrusive). The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ... An interpersonal relationship is some relationship or connection between two people. ... Personal space is the region surrounding each person, or that area which a person considers his domain or territory. ... Overview map of the region. ...

Comfortable personal distances also depend on the social situation, gender, and individual preference.

A related term is propinquity. Propinquity is one of the factors, set out by Jeremy Bentham, used to measure the amount of pleasure in a method known as felicific calculus. In social psychology, propinquity is one of the main factors leading to interpersonal attraction. ... Jeremy Bentham (IPA: ) (February 15, 1748 – June 6, 1832) was an English gentleman, jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. ... The felicific calculus was an algorithm formulated by Jeremy Bentham for calculating the degree or amount of happiness that a specific action is likely to cause, and hence its degree of moral rightness. ...

Sharia

Under traditional schools of sharia or Islamic law close proximity, called Khalwat, is forbidden between a man and a woman who are not married and not mahram. Even just being together in a house, a room, a bathroom, or a secluded place may be forbidden. Sharia (Arabic: ; also Sharīah, Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is the Arabic word for Islamic law. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( (help· info)), submission (to the will of God) is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Law (from the late Old English lagu of probable North Germanic origin) in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide... In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram (Arabic محرم, also transcribed mahrim or maharem) is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo. ...

Islamic Penal Code of Iran

According to Islamic penal code of Iran; in case two men or two women are found naked under one blanket, when there has been no necessity for doing so, they will be sentenced to be whipped less than 99 lashes (only being naked is enough and the judge decides on the number of lashes).

See also

• Body language
• T-V distinction
• Skinship
• Environmental psychology
• Don't Stand So Close to Me - song

This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In sociolinguistics, a T-V distinction describes the situation wherein a language, unlike current English, has pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, or insult toward the addressee. ... Skinship (スキンシップ) is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese word coined using English root origins, initially to describe the closeness between a mother and her child due to the physical contact of their naked skin. ... Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field focused on the interplay between humans and their surroundings. ... Dont Stand So Close to Me is a famous song and hit single by the British pop group The Police. ...

External links

• Proxemics
• Proxemics Research