Tell me where you sit and I’ll tell you how you are (environmental psychology explains it)

Interesting notes on Environmental Psychology.

If we have suffered for something during Christmas, it has been for the family meals and dinners, one after the other. For this reason, the center of all interactions during the holidays is that table where we all get together.catch up, eat, laugh and celebrate.

But not all tables are the same, nor are all places around them. The spatial arrangement exerts different influences on people; on their level of participation and their nature. This is the subject of study in environmental psychology and group psychology, disciplines that have detailed the effects of your position at the table.

Types of spatial arrangements

In terms of the variety of spatial arrangements, three classic ones can be distinguished: the focusedthe sociophobic and the sociopathic.

1. Focused

All seats are oriented in a specific direction. This arrangement focus is strengthened and interaction between users is reduced; participation is from the focus to the users and vice versa.The participation is from the focus to the users and vice versa. This is the typical orientation of school classrooms, where students are asked to attend to the teacher and not to talk to each other.

2. Sociofuga

All seats face outwards. When arranged in this way users have their backs to each other, thus limiting interpersonal communication.. The little interaction that occurs in this arrangement tends to be intrapersonal and self-directed. Although it is not common, sociopathic dispositions are used, for example in some psychoanalysis currents in which the patient's back is turned to the psychotherapist, facilitating introspection.

3. Sociopaths

All seats face inward. This case is the complete opposite; users are oriented towards each other, facilitating interpersonal communication and leading to intragroup communication.. For processes of trust and cohesion it is fundamental, due to the facilities it promotes for interaction and exchange. It is the most typical in our society in group meetings, where the focus is the group itself.

Sociopathic disposition: the most common in daily life.

However, of all these dispositions the one we find most often in our daily life is the sociopetal one.. 

We all gather at tables either to be with friends, with family or at work meetings. This makes the sociopetal disposition the most influential in the areas of our lives and the one from which we can benefit the most from knowing it. Within a sociopetal disposition, depending on where you are, you do not participate in the same way, nor with whom. If orientation has its effects, so does geometry.

Square

A square table has four equal sides, so everyone has an equal everyone has the same option to speak to the group and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.. However, it does influence smaller relationships, in dyads or triads. People sitting next to each other, i.e., in adjacent seats, tend to cooperate, reinforce each other and agree. On the other hand, people sitting opposite each other tend to compete, favoring disagreements and questioning. However, in both arrangements, there is a greater degree of interaction than if we sit in the corners.

Rectangular

Rectangular tables have two narrower sides where the headboard effect occurs: occupying this position confers more status.. At the headboard there is not as much ease of communication as in the middle of the broad sides, as it limits eye contact and makes it harder to be seen. However, when speaking, attention is more easily attracted, since the same leaks of the table direct the gaze towards the headboard and the person is facilitated as a focus. As for the wide sides, if someone is in the center, it is a sign that that person wants to get involved and interact. On the other hand, those in the corner prefer to stay on the sidelines, see what is going on first and then intervene -or not-. This facilitates the roles of participant and initiator in the center and observer and follower in the corners.

Circular

In circular arrangements the seating orientation does not change as drastically as in more rigid geometric shapes, such as square and rectangular. Because of this, the above effects tend to diminish, for example, there is no location that denotes higher status, nor a place where one can take shelter, since everyone is equally exposed.For example, there is no location that denotes greater status, nor a place where one can take shelter, since everyone is equally exposed. However, there is the Steinzor effect, whereby one tends to interact to a greater degree with the people in front of you, by having greater eye contact; so if you have something pending to say to someone, sit in front, it will help you.

Other environmental factors

Other environmental factors in group ecology can be temperature, which at high levels promotes irritability, or noise as a cause of stress. Even the size of a room itself can have an influence depending on the number of people, since it is not the same for five people to hold the meeting in a large room or in a small room. But of all of them, the most controllable is where we sit and, who knows, maybe for next Christmas we will want to change the location..