[A study of seat-taking in seminar classes: data analysis of three seminar classes in a women's university]

The purpose of this study was to examine the conditions under which human territoriality (self/other boundary-regulation mechanism) appears in seat-taking behavior. Seat-taking in a social psychology seminar class of twelve students at a women's university was observed during the 1983, 1984 and 1985 academic years by female part-time lecturer (the author herself). At the beginning of each class, the lecturer drew the figure of the students' seating arrangement at a rectangular table, while calling each student's name. Questionnaires were also administered to the students at the end of the observation in the period 1983 and 1985 academic years. The results obtained were: 1) each student was more attached to one seating area and seating side than the others, 2) this fact reflected her seating preference to some extent, 3) no student monopolize the special seats to which she was most attached, 4) extra spaces were left between the lecturer's and the student's seat. The third finding was considered to be due to homogeneity of the student with respect to major, grade and sex and their temporal relationships within the seminar group. Also the fourth result was due to the status difference between the lecturer and the students, which led to the recognition that the seating places were mutually exclusive for both sides of them.