Pedestrian navigation through public spaces reflects the nature of interaction between behavior and environment. This study compared pedestrian choice behavior at shopping mall intersections in China and the United States. The study found that in both countries (a) pedestrians chose movement patterns that involved the fewest steps and (b) there…

In spite of the removal of legislated racial segregation, a number of observational studies in South Africa and elsewhere have shown that "informal," nonlegislated segregation persists in spaces of everyday interaction. Most of these have been case studies of segregation at single sites. The authors seek to quantify segregation in a…

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…

Privacy is conceptualized as a dynamic, interpersonal boundary control process which regulates access to the self. Coupled with desired and achieved privacy levels, a series of social interaction cases are described involving satisfactory and unsatisfactory input-output relationships with others. Mechanisms used to implement desired levels of…

Investigated was the relationship between dormitory density and attitudes of residents. Students in higher-density dormitories were less trusting, cooperative and friendly than students in lower-density dormitories. The implications of these relults for planners and architects were discussed. (JP)

Two concepts describing human special behavior are delineated. A field experiment was designed to test whether personal belongings left as markers in public areas (i.e. cafeteria setting) function to protect a territory or to maintain a comfortable social distance. It is suggested the term territory" be restricted to situations in which the space…

To test the hypothesis that residents of larger cities are less helpful to strangers than are residents of small towns, three New Zealand towns with varying population densities were studied for helping behavior. The research confirms that population density is a reliable predictor of non-helping behavior. (RE)

This study sampled 198 studentsin seven dormitories and 55 suites in an effort to elucidate the relationsh ip between social environment as measured by the University Residence Environment Scales, and subject mood states, friendship patterns, and perception of the architecture of dormitories. (JP)

Hours allocated to discretionary and obligatory activities are analyzed through personal status variables--sex role, child-rearing responsibility, work, and income. Also, life styles are differentiated by how the discretionary time is used--social interaction, participation types of activity; passive forms of activity, or rest and relaxation. (BL)

Introduces this special issue devoted to the psychology of urban life by explaining the two approaches of study, the ecological and the sociostructural, and by briefly describing each paper presented. (MA)

Concepts derived from general man-environment system (MES) models are applied to the specific problem of nomadic sedentarization. The analysis focuses on the manner in which residential mobility may function as a central element in nomadic cultures. (Author/MA)

Investigates the developmental and ecological determinants of children's use of privacy markers and rules in the home. Children's chronological age is consistently related to increases in privacy, though physical maturity accounts for a large portion of the age trends. Both age and sex effects are modified by situational factors. (Author/MA)

Reviews evidence which indicates that the sheer size of an urban center has important social and psychological consequences. Available literature suggests that size combined with structural differentiation is related to psychological and behavioral variables such as anomymity, deindividuation, deviance, personality development, and…