Excuse Me, But You’re in My Seat 為什麼我們總愛坐同一個位子？ @ 【精英翻譯】的部落格

Excuse Me, But You’re in My Seat 為什麼我們總愛坐同一個位子？

精英翻譯社轉自: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0061/343306/web/

Even without assigned seating, it is a little surprising how many people always choose the same seat in a classroom or auditorium. Or the same table in a restaurant. Or even the same bicycle from a full rack of rentalbikes. After close observation, psychologists believe they have figured out the reason for this behavior.

有些令人訝異的是，即便沒有指定座位，許多人在教室或禮堂內總愛選擇坐在同一個位子。或者到餐廳時總挑同一張桌子。或甚至在一整排出租腳踏車中挑選同一輛腳踏車。經過仔細觀察後，心理學家認為他們已經找到了這種行為的原因。

In one such study, Marco Costa, a psychologist at the University of Bologna in Italy, selected two lecture halls for a sample of 47 and 31 students. Costa purposefully chose rooms where there were more seats than students so that they had more freedom to choose where to sit. He set up hidden cameras to record how the students chose their seats over a period of four weeks. As suspected, most students picked the same seat over and over. But why?

在一個這樣的研究中，義大利波隆那大學心理學家馬可．柯斯塔選了兩間講堂給由四十七名學生及三十一名學生組成的樣本。柯斯塔刻意挑了座位數多於學生人數的教室，以便他們能更自由地選擇座位。他架設了隱藏式攝影機來記錄學生在四週的時間裡是如何挑選自己的座位。正如人們所料想的，大多數的學生一次又一次地選擇相同的座位。但是為什麼呢？

Costa calls this habit “territoriality.” The word often makes us think of gangs protecting their turf or wolf packs fighting off other packs to control a certain area. In other words, territoriality usually suggests aggression and defense. However, Costa as well as another psychologist, Professor Robert Gifford of the University of Victoria, believes that this seat-choosing behavior is designed to keep the peace. “Most of the time, most people claim a space and others tacitly agree to it,” Gifford explained.

柯斯塔將這習慣稱為「領域感」。這個詞常讓我們想到保護自己地盤的幫派，或是為了掌控特定地區而攻擊其他狼群的狼群。換言之，領域感通常暗示著攻擊及防禦。不過，柯斯塔及另一名心理學家 —— 維多利亞大學的羅伯特．吉福德教授 —— 認為挑選座位的行為是用來維護和平。吉福德解釋：「大多時候，多數人會宣示自己的空間，而其他人會默認這件事。」

The phenomenon of classroom seating selection perhaps shows an even deeper truth. Life can be messy and unpredictable. The reason students go to school is to study. Going to class and knowing where you will sit is just one less thing to distract a student from this greater purpose. In short, sitting in the same place sets students up for a psychologically more comfortable learning environment and makes it easier for them to concentrate on the lecture at hand.