We are classmates, so why is my deskmate so fragrant?

More and more people are beginning to believe that distance creates beauty.

But in most cases, if people are physically closer to each other, perhaps a deeper friendship can be developed.

For example, for two students, sitting closer together makes them more likely to become good friends.

A recent scientific study supports this view.

Recently, a research team from the Department of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University verified the hypothesis that "friendships between students are based on sitting adjacent or not far from each other" through a longitudinal analysis involving 235 elementary school students in grades 3-5 (8-11 years old).

They concluded that primary school students are more likely to become friends with classmates who sit next to or near them than with classmates who sit elsewhere in the classroom.

Moreover, the change in seating allocation also facilitated the formation of new friendships among primary school students. That is, these primary school students were more likely to become friends with new classmates who sat at the same table or with new classmates who sat not far away, compared with old classmates who stayed behind or classmates who sat farther away.

The related research paper, titled "Classroom Seat Proximity Predicts Friendship Formation," has been published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology.

In this regard, Brett Laursen, a professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University and the corresponding author of the paper, said, "Obviously, proximity is more important than familiarity, because close distance can provide new opportunities for communication between people, and communication is the basis of friendship."

How to sit? It is very important for primary school students

When you were a child, you might have been forced to change desks and "roam" around in various corners of the classroom for various reasons.

Maybe it's because you study too well, so the head teacher gives priority to arranging you in the first two rows for intensive training; maybe it's because you are too tall and block the view of other students, so the head teacher has to arrange you in the last row or behind the wall.

Another possibility is that because you talk too much and disturb other students, the head teacher has no choice but to send you to a corner seat.

The above are actually some of the academic considerations of teachers, because doing so will most likely improve the overall performance of the whole class.

However, the quality of seating allocation is also crucial to the development of friendships between students and needs to be taken seriously.

In this work, student seats are allocated according to three levels of proximity: Neighbor proximity, Group proximity, and Proximity distance.

Neighbor proximity refers to two students sitting in the same row or on the same side of a table, as well as sitting opposite each other; Group proximity refers to the former with the addition of the diagonal of the same table and the same row.

Proximity distance is more different and involves swapping seats between two students who are farther apart.

Figure | Schematic diagram of three types of proximity relationships (Source: Frontiers in Psychology)

The research team found that in group proximity relationships, in addition to communicating with their deskmates, students also become good friends with classmates who sit close enough for continuous communication.

"Of course, students' butts aren't glued to their seats, and they interact with classmates who sit farther away during lunch, recess and free time (in some classes)," Laursen said.

He also stressed that despite opportunities for contact with other classmates, new friendships tended to form among groups of people who sat close together, a fact that underscored the importance of distance in friendship formation.

In the research team's view, appropriate proximity relationships are extremely important for the formation of friendships between students, especially in elementary school, because elementary school students rarely have other long-term opportunities to meet (and contact) new friends. After all, companionship is an important foundation of friendship.

In the actual teaching process, teachers will consider various factors to decide which student sits next to which student, and then decide which students can interact closely, which indirectly affects the interpersonal relationships between students.

Based on this, the research team urged, "Teachers should exercise their power wisely and prudently, because when adults interfere in children's social lives, there will be unintended social consequences."

Not applicable to all students

Of course, the research team said that this study is not without limitations.

For example, they cannot rule out the possibility that personal relationships implicitly influence seating decisions; some students were friends in the previous year, and some of these friends may sit nearby; teachers may avoid seating students who dislike each other too closely.

In addition, the findings may also be related to teachers’ classroom management practices and classroom differences.

Regarding this research, a foreign netizen joked, "I agree to bring this idea to universities."

(Source: Reddit)

But in reality, unlike elementary school students, the social circles of high school students and college students are not limited to the classroom, so this research result may not be universal.

But one thing is that communicating more is indeed one of the ways to enhance friendship.

References:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.796002/full

https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/classroom-seats-friendships

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/vmv2du/seat_assignments_drive_friendships_among/