Territorial Behavior in Public Settings

Abstract

This study provides a novel observational method to observe repetitive seating patterns chosen by students in a classroom. Although prior work that relied on self-reports suggests that students claim the same seats repeatedly, the main hypothesis of the study was that in a repeated use of a public space, people tend to occupy the same position, thus establishing a form of territoriality. Student seating locations were observed in two university lecture halls, 6 times during a span of 4 weeks. Observations were carried out on a sample of 47 and 31 students for Lecture Halls A and B, respectively. Two parameters were computed: mean displacement and mean territory dimension. The results showed very low mean displacements in both halls and the establishment of very small territories inside the halls. The results are explained in terms of conflict and anxiety avoidance, and the interaction between spatial preference and goal fulfillment driven by motivational and personality factors.