Identify the type of interpersonal physical distance during a formal parent teacher meeting
A. Intimate distance (up to 18 inches)
B. Personal distance (18 inches to 4 feet)
C. Social distance (4-10 feet)
D. Public distance (10 feet onwards)
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → C
Edward Hall, an anthropologist, described four kinds of interpersonal physical distance, the space people keep from the person they are interacting with, depending on the situation.
A. Intimate distance (up to 18 inches) Incorrect. It is kept when talking privately to someone or with a very close friend or relative, never in a formal meeting.
B. Personal distance (18 inches to 4 feet) Incorrect. It is kept in one-to-one interaction with a close friend or relative, or with someone not very close in a work setting. A parent-teacher meeting is described as formal, which calls for more distance.
C. Social distance (4-10 feet) Correct. It is the distance kept when the interaction is formal, and not close, as between a parent and a teacher at a formal meeting.
D. Public distance (10 feet onwards) Incorrect. It is kept in a formal setting with a large number of persons, as when a speaker addresses an audience, not in a meeting between two or three people.
Note: Edward Hall’s four kinds of interpersonal physical distance were there in the chapter ‘Psychology and Life’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, and are not there in the NCERT book (2025-26).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Crowding … In social situations, human beings like to maintain a certain physical distance from the person with whom they are interacting. This is called interpersonal physical distance, and is a part of a broader concept called personal space, i.e. the physical space we like to have all around us. … Edward Hall, an anthropologist, mentioned four kinds of interpersonal physical distance, depending on the situation:
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