Investigating The Comfort Distance Of Chinese In Eight Directions

The aim of the study was to investigate the preferred comfort distance that Chinese people keep between themselves and others. An experiment was carried out to measure the comfort distance around participants, and the gender effect of the participant was evaluated. Twenty-eight participants (15 females) were recruited in the experiment. All the participants were asked to stand naturally when a confederate approaching them. The comfort distances between participants and confederates in the eight directions (0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 degrees, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, 315 degrees) were collected to analyze. The results indicated that the comfort distance in the front was larger than that in the lateral and rear. In addition, there was no significant difference between male and female participants on the comfort distance under the selected eight directions. The study could contribute to the research on the social interactions of Chinese.