What do "staying outside the personal space" and "assume rapport" mean in this text?

Question

Personal space is the invisible bubble that surrounds each of us. It is the space around us that we consider our own. Most people feel uncomfortable or even threatened if someone moves inside and invades their personal space by getting too close too fast. [....]Complete strangers usually keep their distance with a good margin, often staying outside the personal space, and a person is normally never that close to someone unless he/she has known that person for a while, which means that you nonverbally assume rapport when you move in closer faster.

The writer make some confusing expressions with me here. Does "staying outside the personal space" mean "keep their distance from my personal space"? and "assume rapport" mean "have a good relationship"? but i don't believe in my opinion. Can you help me?

Answer 1

Both your assumptions are close. As the text says,

Personal space is the invisible bubble that surrounds each of us.

So staying outside the personal space means that you wouldn't intrude or enter the bubble. It doesn't mean keep your distance, because you could be very close to the edge of someones personal space, but not in it.

Assuming Raport means that you automatically think that the other person will like you, and get on well with you. So instead of "have a good relationship" as you said, it means you assume you will have a good relationship. Instead of acting as if you don't really know the person, you act as if they are one of your closer friends.