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,…

Informal education in museums is structured through movement in space. This article summarizes a range of research that examines the role of spatial layout in shaping the ways in which visitors explore, engage, and understand museums and museum exhibitions. It is demonstrated that behavior patterns are systematically linked to spatial…

Article summarizes interview data from several thousand college students on 23 campuses about the varieties of places used for studying and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of each location. (Author)

Details the results of a large-scale field study aimed at testing two theories on human crowding. Found that psychological factors are increasingly important for the prediction of crowding as one moved from the immediate residence to the less immediate city level. Implications, limitations and further results are discussed. (Author/MA)

Study found that social density is more strongly related to crowding ratings than is spatial density. Predictors of pleasantness include work-play, amount of space, waiting, and percent of people alone or unaccompanied. (Author/MA)

In this article, the previous four major position papers presented in this journal are evaluated from several vantage points. These include the relationship of concept to process, the study of psychological phenomena with relation to adaptive performance and the problems of measurement of these phenomena. (Author/MA)

This paper suggests that in addition to the recent work indicating that crowding is a subjective phenomenon, an adequate definition of density must also include a subjective component since density is a complex phenomenon in itself. Included is a discussion of both physical density and perceived density. (Author/MA)

Current models of human spatial behavior including stress, information overload, and micro-macro analysis are critically examined. An alternative functional orientation is developed which suggests that seeking to understand the adaptive value of various proxemic phenomena may provide some insight as to how the various proxemic variables are…

Employs cognitive mapping and behavioral mapping strategies in conjunction, using behavioral data to help verify the cognitive mapping findings. Indicates that both observed and reported environmental behavior patterns are directly related to those spatial areas emphasized or excluded in the cognitive maps and to subjective distortions in mapping.…

An overview of stimulus overload, behavioral constraint and ecological analyses of crowding is presented. Limitations of these analyses are noted, including their failure to provide criteria for determining relative salience of various crowding antecedents, intensity and persistence of crowding experiences, and circumstances under which…

Examines the differential effects of spatial density of five-year-old children. Generally, normal children motorically adjusted to a high-density condition to a greater degree than children with behavior problems. Anxious and impulsive children were especially distressed by a high-density condition, compared to normals. (Author/MA)

Human territoriality is important as an organizer of human behavior. This thesis is elaborated at three levels of analysis: (a) the community, (b) the small group and dyad, and (c) the individual. Human territoriality is characterized as the continuous association of person or persons with specific place. (Author/MA)

Given the explosion in growth of out-of-the-home child care, increasing attention is being focused on the developmental consequences of early childhood environments. The authors show that the ratio of children to the number of activity areas in the classroom is positively correlated with off-task time. There is also a marginal, negative…