Lateral bias in theatre-seat choice

Abstract

Examples of behavioural asymmetries are common in the range of human behaviour; even when faced with a symmetrical environment people demonstrate reliable asymmetries in behaviours like gesturing, cradling, and even seating. One such asymmetry is the observation that participants tend to choose seats to the right of the screen when asked to select their preferred seating location in a movie theatre. However, these results are based on seat selection using a seating chart rather than examining real seat choice behaviour in the theatre context. This study investigated the real-world seating patterns of theatre patrons during actual film screenings. Analysis of bias scores calculated using photographs of theatre patrons revealed a significant bias to choose seats on the right side of the theatre. These findings are consistent with the prior research in the area and confirm that the seating bias observed when seats are selected from a chart accurately reflects real-world seating behaviour.

Keywords:

• Laterality
• Asymmetry
• Bias
• Seating
• Visuospatial

This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to L. J. Elias. The authors wish to thank Sarah Simmons and Austen Smith for their assistance in coding the data, and the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon for allowing us to conduct our study in their theatre.

This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to L. J. Elias. The authors wish to thank Sarah Simmons and Austen Smith for their assistance in coding the data, and the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon for allowing us to conduct our study in their theatre.