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It approximates the size of the personal-space bubble in a noncontact culture such as North Americans. A wife can comfortably stand inside her husband's bubble, but she may feel uneasy if another woman tries it. Personal distance is still for most people, within arm's length, the limit of physical domination. This is appropriate for discussing personal matters. Four to seven feet is close social distance. In an office, people who work together normally stand this far apart to talk. However, when a man stands four to seven feet from where his secretary is sitting and looks down at her, it has a domineering effect. Far-phase social distance, seven to twelve feet, goes with formal conversation, and desks of important people are usually big enough to hold visitors to this distance. Above twelve feet, one gets into public distance, appropriate for speechmaking and for very formal stiff styles of speaking. Choosing the right distance can be crucial. A young woman I know, proposed to by a man who she thought she was in love with him, turned him down on the spur of the moment. What decided her was the fact that he did this proposing while sitting in a chair eight feet away.