When I get in my car and go to back up, if I see someone behind me, I generally wait several extra seconds to make sure that car really is waiting and not about to drive past me. At least in my case, its about being cautious and not petty.
And it probably takes a few more seconds to actually back out, because you have to be more careful and judge the distance to the car that is in the way.
That was what I was thinking. I usually wait to make sure they aren't trying to get through before I continue pulling out of the space. People waiting because of territorial reasons is crazy for me. I am kind of assuming that scientists made some kind of assumption there because I kind of doubt they went after the cars that pulled out and asked them why they took more time. Or maybe a survey process for unrelated drivers? I need more info on these studies. Lol.
Its not territorialness that keeps me from leaving as fast, its being nervous now because there's another thing I could possibly hit that I have to account for and I'm already nervous about backing up
Instead of kicking the can down the road I always back into my spots on arrival. All the visibility and awareness that you already have being out in the lane analyzing all your surroundings while you look for a spot is much better than the quick or snail exit to make sure you're not running someone over
💯 this. I am so confused by the parking spaces segment. I've never stayed in a spot due to territorial behavior. I just want to make sure the person "waiting" isn't about to fly past me at the same time I start to back up. Even with blinkers on, I've seen people do it. Or people behind the person waiting will try to go around or some bonkers behavior. Drivers act irrationally! I usually wait a good 5-10 seconds to make sure they are remaining completely stopped. Perhaps men are more territorial than woman... but a woman, this just sounds absurd to me.
@ObsessiveCompulsiveClown also its not ideal when you're trying to put stuff like groceries in your trunk and now that trunk if facing the hood of another car, and your cart can't easily get between cars lol
Same here, I feel far more pressure to get buckled and moving ASAP and skip adjusting the AC vents, quick checking my phone, etc. when I see someone is waiting for my spot
I don't know about anyone else, but the reason I'm slow to pull out of a spot when someone is waiting is not because it's more valuable to me or something. It's because they're blocking sight lines in an already crowded parking lot, and they might suddenly drive forward at any moment, so I trust the safety of the environment less and I'm more cautious.
How the heck did they rule out the complication of there now being another car they could hit and people taking time to reevaluate the direction they want to backup into?
@@robertairvin2310 Status doesn't matter to Territorial. However. The difference reinforces my point. If you see an car driving down the road which has clearly been in three different accidents. Do you wounder about the driving abilities of the driver? on the other end. If you see someone driving a perfectly preserved antique car or otherwise expensive car, do you not thing they must be careful drivers as they don't want to wrench them? Tell me, which car would you feel more comfortable pulling out in front of.
I was wondering the same thing, but there are a number of factors that lead me to give the researchers the benefit of the doubt here. For one, we only got a brief summary of the study; it's likely in their own paper that these concerns were addressed in some way and Sci-Show just cut it for time. More importantly though, the other studies, such as the library studies and phone study, don't have nearly as many potential confounding variables involved and yet they still show the same territorial behaviour. These combined show that this sort of irrational territorial behaviour likely does exist, and therefore likely played some role in the parking spot study results as well.
also 6 seconds is easily explained by checking if the person is waiting, if you can pull out of the spot safely and pulling out slowly to not endanger them. So that would be the exact opposite result of the actual study and from my experience I have certainly taken a bit longer to properly assess the situation and to not "endanger" the person waiting
Yep. I would definitely spend an extra few seconds. 😀 This is true for moth of this. I find people around are little destructions, so I would take longer. Hank. Sure, this research is coming to the right conclusion?
@@martinadelvai4115 I am aware, but its definitely a reasonable time in many cases also depending how much space is available I can imagine people taking more than 6 seconds extra
@ogge8375 That is a VERY good point. Even if you didn't see the car waiting before you got in, a full lot may well result in other spot-hunting cars in the lot. These, in turn, may prime someone to be watchful of cars in general; car-dodging mode, if you will.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Myself I would maybe take longer because there is a car there and I need to drive and watch mofe carefully because of that.
This is me in these situations. Oh, there’s a car there now? I can’t fling myself willy nilly out of the spot, I have to be more careful. Oh there’s someone in my space? I can’t just pick up any book, I am going to be more thorough. Territorial doesn’t feel anything like how I feel in these situations.
Did the parking study account for how close the waiter pulled in? Seems totally expected to take a little longer if you feel someone might inch behind you into the space you need to back into, especially in a legal system where that would place you backing out as liable for any damages. Also seems totally expected to be upset at someone you perceive as rushing you, imo, I think that would put the honking scenario into the altruism/punishment category.
Yep. This was my first thought. I have anxiety around backing out of parking spots, and sometimes the way people pull in to wait makes the space I can pull out into much tighter. Of course I go slower, but contrary to this study, I feel extremely anxious about that fact and in reality want out as fast as humanly possible
It seems that you're assuming the study used angle parking, whereas I was imagining parallel parking, where the mechanics make pulling in too close (alongside the car you want to leave) much less likely, at least in my experience. Unfortunately the abstract linked doesn't indicate what style of parking was under study.
@@mattgies Well Hank heavily implied the study was done in a packed parking lot, and the abstract mentions a mall, both of which make parallel parking unlikely. In a parallel parking situation on a busy street someone waiting behind you may make it easier to pull out quickly as they block traffic.
@@klutterkicker Yeah, you're probably right. I just had parallel parking on the mind because it actually happened to me yesterday: I was looking for parking and saw a car ahead turn on its reversing lights. So I stopped behind and activated my turn signal. They proceeded to sit there without moving for what must have been about 2 minutes. Fortunately no cars arrived behind me to make me give up waiting.
You should talk about the study a couple years back that showed drivers of large SUVs and trucks tend to be more aggressive/bigger jerks both on and off the road.
Was that the one where the guy put rubber animal on the edge of the road and watched the jerks who went out of their way to hit them? And someone else set up a camera at an intersection with a lot of pedestrian traffic and confirmed that it was the luxury vehicle which were crowding the pedestrians. Showing that money turns humans into jerks.
I forget who said it, but a traveller once said that in America, everything is a competition. From courts to 'debates' to reality TV. I kinda feel like they nailed it there : )
@@mcv2178 it's the capitalist mindset. Greedily taking from others, including those who need it most is good because it's capitalism. Helping others, sharing your belongings and taking care of nature is evil because it's communism. It is known
I've never waited for a parking spot in my life. My method is simple. When I enter a parking lot, I gauge how full it seems to be. If it's over 95% full, meaning there will only be a few empty spaces, I immediately drive towards the zone that would be least desirable. There will always be 1 or 2 spaces there. If the parking lot is only 50% full, I just park at the first decent empty spot I see. If it's mostly empty, then and ONLY then, do I drive towards the more desirable/closer spots and look for one. Worst case scenario with my strategy, I get 2 free minutes of cardio that I would otherwise spend looking for a close spot.
Yup. I never feel pressure to free my spot quickly when someone is waiting for me. There is _always_ another available spot, and it is quicker for them to just park further away and walk the extra 10 spaces than wait on me
@@EricSundquistKC Yeah. I, age 16, was with my fat, lazy grandfather back in the 1960s as he literally drove around for 20! minutes trying to find a place to park right in front of the destination. I never said anything because he was an unpleasant person. He passed up many spaces where we would only have to walk 3 or 4 spaces. At one point I decided to note the time to see how long this insanity would go on. It ended when he managed to get a spot at the end of the row across from the door we were visiting. Now he would be the type to be territorial about that spot.
@@CaritasGothKaraoke I actually live in California, but I do not generally go to Trader Joe's, no. However I frequent Costco. The one I go to has an absolutely massive parking lot and there are spaces way behind the Costco that never fill up, probably over a hundred of them. But it is a bit of a walk.
Idk about all this. I try to go faster if someone is waiting, but I often take longer because I am nervous about hitting the person waiting close behind me. I already have anxiety about backing out of parking lots as it is, so being watched is not fun. If they honk, then I may straight up panic and take even longer
If they honk I might take longer out of spite, but that has nothing to do with "territorialness". I don't care at all about the spot, I'm just inflicting a small form of petty revenge as a way to teach them a lesson about being an impatient douche. All that said, I've never had anyone honk at me when leaving a parking space. This study seems jank as hell. I'm surprised SciShow is even talking about it.
@virginiamoss7045 Then they should learn. If someone is bad at parking, then they need to go to an empty lot and practice. This is something they should have done when getting their license. If someone is a bad driver, they are actively risking the lives of everyone around them. Either become a good driver or don't drive.
I’ve done this in grocery isles when I’m not in anyone’s way. Or if someone is blocking the items I want to access, I will look at other adjacent items while I wait, and when they move, I will linger a few seconds before going to the items I was waiting for. To the commenter asking if it’s rational, I don’t think it matters if it’s rational or not. I do it because I don’t want people to feel like I am waiting for them to get out of my way because when that happens to me, I feel bad that I didn’t realize I was in someone’s way. Usually if it is urgent, people will say something, but that’s hard to remember in the moment. And for the example of browsing a few seconds longer when someone else enters the aisle, I have a feeling it might be more common with women than men. I am a woman and I do this behaviour as a sort of signal that I am not trying to avoid them or made uneasy by their presence and am not changing my behavior because of them. Now if they need to go where I am and indicate that, I of COURSE will get out of their way. I view this as a very small effort (habitual now) that has a potentially large impact of not leading to negative vibes. Is it rational? Maybe not. But I think social interactions get an exception from that.
I think it also might be a social thing, especially in the non-fiction aisles. As in, you’re interested in this? I am, too! Maybe I’ll strike up a conversation with you?
Glad people here are saying what I was thinking. When someone is waiting on me I get more anxious and careful. If they honk at me and try to rush me, then I become pissy and territorial
I think the library thing can be understood as "I don't want to leave this area, because I don't want them to think they're shooing me away or being disrespectful." I've spent longer in areas just because I don't want them to think I think it's a competition to be in that area, which is kinda counterproductive considering I'm actively competing for the area. It's a weird undisclosed statement of "I want you to feel welcome here, and that you're not in my way." The same can be said for grocery stores when you're waiting for something. I'll linger around just in case I may forget something, because I know that once I leave someone will likely enter my spot which makes it harder for me if I want to come back. I still am never clear on the etiquette of whether you should be on the side you're looking for things on, or on the opposite side. You either cover up the area other people may want something from, or you create the uncomfortable situation of forcing people to walk in front of you if they're passing you.
When others are waiting, the person leaving has less room to maneuver when backing out. If someone is honking, that person could be impatient, so the risk of a collision is higher.
I wonder how much of the parking situation is actually territorial nature and how much is “I am still assessing the goals of this stranger behind me and calculating the route least likely to result in an accidental collision while backing out”
I don't think all people leaving "slowly" are doing it territoriality, if there are people or cars around I want to be careful, so I go slower. Though if they decide to honk at me I might just re-park my car and find another reason to need to be parked there. Cause a. ruuude. and b. I don't trust them to not cause an accident if they are that impatient. Though I think I tend to yield most "territories" cause it's not worth the time or effort to be territorial.
Back in the day, when I still smoked, my sister and I were at a big box membership store. We loaded the stuff into her car and got in. About that moment, someone honked their horn at us. My sister, who was always against my smoking, said, "You need to get out and have a cigarette, right now!"
@@CZPanthyr I hope you took your time about it, too! I think a lot of it is just the feeling that someone is aggressively trying to make you do something. Of course that's going to get someone's hackles up! People who honk horns for any reason other than to alert someone about to hit them are nearly always both terrible drivers and utterly insufferable people.
Glad to see the comments tearing this idea apart, here's another one for the bathroom stall vs. parking space comparison: When you're about to pull out of a space, you know pretty well the person is waiting on _you_ specifically. If you're in a stall and you don't leave, someone else will. Did these researchers control for _any_ variables?
One good example of this was my classroom in high school history. The teacher I had was very chill and half way through the year he was talking about human nature and territoriality. His example was us... he never gave us assigned seating nor did anyone change seating that entire time.. no one even changed after being called out on it.
Tbh sometimes it makes sense for practicality id imagine. Ive been homeschooled to i wouldnt know all that much about the classroom but i'd imagine it's just nice to collectively "decide" a seat so you can just.. walk right to it. Less stressful. And if it has a little "cubby" shelf thingy (mostly for earlier grades where you don't move classrooms throughout the day) in it you could just leave things there/not have to deal with that every time you leave/sit down. Perhaps even just being familiar with who's around you for example. The small things. Probably more i havent thought of.
Yea, people choose whichever seat in most comfortable for them and don’t usually change it unless something happens to make it uncomfortable, either physically or socially, I usually picked a spot near the front by the wall near the door if I was comfortable with that class because I don’t have good eyesight and my voice is naturally too quiet to hear sometimes, but if I didn’t feel academically comfortable in the class I would find a spot a bit further back to hide in the crowd to avoid being called to answer questions but not in the back row, and if I wasn’t socially comfortable in the room I would pick a back corner so I had walls behind and beside me and I could always tell if anyone was looking at me so I could concentrate better on my work without being distracted by the people behind me. In my opinion the most confident people usually picked the middle seats closest to the front even if all of the wall seats and seats further back weren’t taken yet.
Oh man, had to come straight to this video... I just got back from adventures in not one but four parking lots. One of my pet peeves: it's a relatively full lot, and cars are roaming around trying to find a space. I'm backing out of my spot, but I can't because the cars are whizzing behind me. I clearly have my reverse lights on, so it's not like there's doubt that I'm backing out. If someone lets me leave, he/she can then take my soon to be vacated space - which happened to be the closest non-ADA spot to the store. People get so caught up looking for *empty* spots, that they don't look for *emptying* spots. Half of me wanted to get out and give the Jerry Maguire "help me help you" speech.
@@julesverneinoz EXACTLY, that's the next level... never mind looking for empty spots, never mind looking for emptying spots, they would be looking for the people who are about to empty a spot.
Small quibble: the use of "possessive" words in English, and many languages, does not necessarily encode a sense of "possession" as in ownership. This simplified understanding of a grammatical concept is rather pernicious, but think about it, if I say "my brother," nobody would think that I am saying I "own" said brother. Rather we understand it to mean a relationship. Likewise, "my lane" does not necessarily mean "I think I OWN this lane;" it can simply mean "the lane I am in, as opposed to the lane the other was in." If you say "my flight leaves at 9am," or "my ride is here," or "my train is late," all sorts of things, nobody would assume you think you own these objects or concepts. The "possessive" structure of grammar is way more versatile than mere literal "possession." The reason why this nuance matters, is because you have every right to be angry when someone cuts you off. Just like with everything in life, there are legal and social conventions that we expect others to obey to keep everything running smoothly and safely. When you are driving 2-4 ton death machines, it is incumbent on all drivers to be mindful of others on the road and that means giving them space. It doesn't matter that you don't literally, legally, own the space, when someone cuts you off they are stepping out of line. What is cutting off? It's abruptly and not safely changing into lanes or turning right in front of another car, causing them to have to slow down sharply or stop lest they potentially crash into you. Maybe you speed up to get in front of them instead of slow down or wait to just pull in behind. Maybe you didn't put your signal on, or put it on so last second it wasn't enough time to warn the other driver anyway. These are all dangerous and obnoxious behaviors that cause annoyance and anxiety to others. If you cut someone off, they aren't angry because you infringed on "their space," they are angry because you infringed on their right to a safe and worry-free journey. Oh and if you book it around me via a wide shoulder for God knows what reason, I will smash my fist onto the horn and not remove it for all the duration you are still in front of me, even if you take two hands off the wheel to flip me birds you mother F-ing worthless human trash, and next time I WILL get your license plate and call the cops too. Be happy I don't yet have a dash cam! Ugh I hate route 20 in Guilderland. I also concur with everyone in the comments pointing out that there could be two very obvious other reasons why drivers would take longer to leave when another car is watching them: (1) the nervousness that comes from being watched and knowing someone is waiting for you, and (2) the fact that there is now another a car potentially in the way and complicating your already difficult task of getting out of the parking spot, meaning that at the very least you have to take a moment to reassess your path out. I also would add that taking longer on purpose when someone rudely honks at you is so obvious of a behavior that it really needs no explanation. It's like I said about cutting people off - it's a horrid social transgression and thus no wonder that those transgressed would retaliate.
Just read Ursala K. LeGuin's "Dispossessed" and you'll see how often we use possessive language without meaning actual ownership. But I like what you had to say about it not being "my lane" of traffic but "my safety" that was infringed upon. Very true.
tables/stools at a bar, seats in a classroom without assigned seating, pews in church.... people do get possessive. or maybe it's just a matter of strangers interfering with your habits and rituals, more OCD than territoriality. it sounds like that parking-lot study drew conclusions without accounting for all possible explanations. note the number of comments about exercising more care when backing out when there is a car in the lane waiting. happened to me today. i just wanted to go to work, not assert my superiority... but i wasn't gonna back into a waiting car.
I used to let the anxiety of knowing that someone's waiting get to me, and would try to leave before I was properly settled into my car, but at some point I realised it's just not worth the stress. I'll leave when I'm ready to leave. It's not being territorial - it's being safe. The only time I ever intentionally wait to leave a spot once I'm ready to leave is when someone's waiting too close, and there's no room for me to pull out in the direction I plan to travel.
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”, but when somebody is anxiously waiting for your spot and you rush, you’re more likely to make mistakes that make the process take longer.
I always assumed the parking issue was fear of your car and the other hitting each other, regardless of who is at fault. I am also fascinated at how people have no problem turning into a parking spot, but when they back out, they don't immediately start turning (reversing their action) and instead have to back up half a car length then get stuck with not enough room to turn anymore.
i am assuming you are speaking loosely, but unless your parking spots are huge, turning immediately will hit the car next to you, obviously. you do drive right? your complaint strikes me as one from someone who has seen backing out a parking spot, but has never done it...
How fast I move out of the spot completely depends on how patient the person waiting is. If they immediately start honking, or whatever, I will DEFINITELY be taking my sweet ass time. It also depends on how crowded I feel. If they give me plenty of room and are patient, I will hurry.
I tend to sit in my parked car for a time because my car is my "man cave" and an opportunity to sit in peace and silence. However if someone is looking to park in the spot I'm occupying I will quickly pull out and head on my way. Someone waiting on me makes me very anxious and that ruins my peace.
In the parking lot scenario, isn't the reason, once there is a car behind you, even waiting, the waiting car blocks the view of the car backing out. That makes the driver of the parked car check extra carefully, and back out more slowly. At least, that is me.
Honking only works on the person who's honking. It's like shouting, "Get out of the way." Most of the time, no one listening. Unless you tell their name first.
When someone honks at me, I just turn the car off and wait for them to leave. I don't put with it. I will leave after everyone is buckled in, my Spotify on with my phone in its mount, and nav started. 😅 So yeah takes me awhile.
@@AllyriaMoon I do that too but less to be a jerk and more of an anxiety freeze response and lack of depth perception, and turning off the engine is my way of signaling I'm not moving until it's clear.
The studies and experiments don’t indicate that “territoriality” is the reason for the behaviour. Just that the behaviour exists. For instance, another possible hypothesis for the behaviour might be “to punish people for acting entitled.” Certainly, if I take longer in a parking spot, that’s why. And it would better explain the additional slowdown when they honk. That would also explain why we don’t do it in the toilet: people who really need to go aren’t entitled, they’re just dancing.
I think people are right in saying they often are just more nervous to pull out when someone's waiting, but this is exactly why people should back INTO a spot! So much safer! But then also, pulling up a route, checking messages, not wanting to feel panicky and rushed before driving are valid reasons to wait longer too. I'd be interested in the reverse scenario - people seem to be extemely impatient and get too close when you've signalled to park INTO a spot and need to wait for you to do so before they can safely get away. I bet that makes it take longer.
I'm glad anxieties were mentioned as a missing component of the study because that certainly accounts for much of the behavior, especially when remaining still is often the (staying out of the way) factor or increasing time to communicate verbally or otherwise. Parking: If there's a car waiting I have to recalculate how fast they're moving, whether they've stopped, opposed to no obstruction when I can smoothly pull out. Payphone: Suddenly having a person waiting can trigger social queues and remind you of other things you had yet to communicate or an interruption which occurs Men vs Women: Women are generally more cautious and likely to assume a more defensive posturing in things due to social constructs predominantly due to the day to day violences committed against women.
It's not about people cutting 'into my lane" it's about cutting in too close and making the situation exponentially more dangerous than it had to be which obviously in the instant can make one angry. Not to mention the difficulties of social anxiety we have. Also, I only honk if I think the person I am honking at has lost focus for some reason. Especially with someone like me who can lose focus easily if I was delaying something cause of that a honk can always help me do what I was going to anyway.
A red light turns green and the pedestrian started crossing the road as I wanted to make a right hand turn. As I waited, the guy behind me started yelling GO GO GO so I STAYED because I was confused and worried about the screaming mans safety. It did cause the pedestrian to unwisely run across traffic to hurry up and also caused me to drive quite slowly away, accidentally on purpose. Poor guy lost 11 seconds of his time that day, I hope he made it to that life threatening appointment on time.
10:20 Urinals are very territorial I wonder if the "common victomhood" of staying in line together, made them want to use the toilet faster, so their "fellow victims", currently also suffering in line wouldn't have to wait so long. Makes the most sense to me
Not just country differences. Different suburbs in the same region have different parking cultures. Sometimes how many older people who have time to harass the town council about issues and to keep them honest also makes a difference in availability (in turn, their 'preciousness').
I've had the opposite happen. I was attending a monthly social, and when I arrived, the person sitting at the corner got up and switched seats. When I wondered what she was doing, she said it's because I usually sit there. I told her we don't have designated seats, but she wanted to move anyway.
SUPER FUN FACT: At home I park the car in an underground garage divided into many private "Units" (or "Boxes"). These Units were made in the '80s when vehicles were considerably smaller than today's. So, If another car is being parked in a unit near mine, I wait patiently for my turn as it would Not be feasible to maneuver two vehicles next to each other. I noticed that many people tend to get pretty nervous with their driving when you wait for them while they are trying to fit their SUVs in those small Units. It already happened TWICE recently that two different people, for which I was waiting, scratched the side of their car in the attempt to park quickly. EDIT: I drive a BEATER by the way.
Waiting for a closer spot is ridiculous and inefficient. I can park in a further parking spot and be almost in the store before those people back out of their spot. Oh no I walked a whole 20 feet extra. Oh no!
This is exactly why I almost always park at the back of the lot! Especially at high traffic stores, where the closer you get to the entrance the more likely pedestrian traffic is to slow you down too
@@paperip1996 When you have kids, you want to spend as little time traversing the dangers of the parking lot as possible, but yeah, when I'm alone I agree.
@@boygenius538_8 if you are blocks away from the parking lot of the place you are trying to visit, You're either using Apple flyover and you're lost, are you're doing parking wrong. Not to mention, if you're in a hurry then don't be rushing everyone else. That's your bad time management skills.
Hmm, I have a few questions. 1) Did the perception of time increase for those waiting for the parked spot to clear? 2) Is it really territorial or just that today people dabble with their phones before they leave? Perhaps entering a new a new destination on the gps, following up on a text, etc.
This 100%. I always check my phone before pulling out of a parking space because it's way safer to check texts etc beforehand, when you are not actively driving!!
Seems like anytime I see someone get into their car and put their foot on the brake preparing to leave a crowded parking lot, that's the time when the driver suddenly takes out his/her phone and texts everyone they know, and maybe calls a few friends for good measure, and perhaps watches a few TikTok videos. Then they finally pull out and drive off 5-10 minutes later.
I go to exercise sessions with about 20 people in the hall and no defined spaces. It's interesting that most people go to the exact same place each session and at least one person gradually moves around creating extra space for themselves.
Is it a law that someone has to leave immediately after getting into their vehicle? That's the thing that really irks me is that they follow you all the way to your car and pressure you to leave immediately. This was the worst in college when the only place I could get any sleep between classes was in my car, and I would have to tell 50 people that I am not leaving right now just to cross the parking lot. Not only do I not feel safe with people following me, sometimes driving like a couple feet behind me, but its just awkward. I dont think I should have to feel pressured to hurry up just for walking to my car. It feels like a bit of entitlement on the part of the parking vultures. Ive shook my head to let people know I am not leaving and people got mad, like they claimed my spot because they saw me walking. I almost never wait for people's spots, and if I do, I accept all of the consequences including waiting forever only to figure out they arent gonna leave. I just park farther away and walk, I dont trust people to park around me anyways. Im not saying I deliberately make people wait and uaually I get in and go, but if I am not ready to leave then I am not ready to leave.
It's the parking culture in your area(s). People in mine never got angry when I indicated I'm not leaving (I just wave 'no' when they follow). They look stressed and disappointed, but not angry, usually on very hot days. Your case is quite unique too, I think. You're dying to sleep, which means you have little patience dealing with others bothering you, which heightens the irritation.
4:57 I think the library example is probably just an example of how everything takes so much longer when you’re distracted, and multitasking isn’t really a thing, because you have to keep track of all the other people in the aisles in case you need to move to let them through and every time you take your attention away from the books on the shelves you’re looking at to keep track of where the people are and go back to searching for a book you have to find where you left off looking on the shelf first to start looking for whatever books you are interested in reading again and that takes much more time than if you are alone and you can concentrate completely on looking for a good book to read.
I've experienced this so many times in the grocery store. Usually, someone blocking the whole aisle with their cart, sideways. And then they spend a full 10-15 minutes to pick ONE item.
Now this is something I've experienced, people behaving as if there is no one else in the store but themselves. I always pause my cart so people can get by even if there is no one in the aisle. (I like your spelling; how it ever got to be "aisle" has got to be so incredibly stupid.)
When this happens I just leave the aisle and go get my other stuff, it's so awkward just standing there blatantly waiting while the people take their sweet time
The parking spot thing definitely speaks to me a bit. I don't like idle time, so I try to get out of the spot as fast as safely possible regardless of if anyone's waiting or not, but I can relate to the "my spot" thing. Every time I go to the grocery store by my house and see both veteran parking spots are taken, I think that a non-vet just took the close spot. I have no problem walking farther, and honestly there's usually a closer spot, but those 2 are mine! Very weird.
Maybe your area is different, but 99% of the time there is plenty of parking, it's just further away. I do not wait for cars to pull out, unless they are already moving when I approach. I just pick a spot that is a little further away. It confuses me that folks will drive around a parking lot for 5 minutes to get a "good" spot, especially if they are going to be parked for an hour or more.
This past winter, I gave up waiting for one person to leave after 3 minutes waiting and moved on to find a different spot, I look in my rear-view mirror and see them finally leaving, so I made a three-point turn in the parking lot and they then put the car in drive and pulled back into that spot. There were 3 other cars in the lot looking for a space, so they weren't going to keep the space no matter what, but it was so weird. That bit about the type of car you drive making a difference explains so much. By the way, that person didn't leave until after I found a different spot. It wasn't anyone I knew; I had never been to that town before. Maybe they thought they knew me, or maybe they just drew a line and felt they had to defend it no matter how ridiculous.
! Idea ! Wondering if there's a study on people taking longer on tasks when being watched. As one diagnosed w/ ADHD, I know I get flustered and focus and 9 different things and get reminded of all sorts of exciting tasks to complete in the future.. Questioning if those who are neurotypical act in the same manner and if the pressure has an impact on the time taken to move from that parking spot edit: grammar & format
Years ago there was an app that let drivers looking for parking give a small tip to a person who was about to leave their parking spot, the tip was for waiting a few moments for the tipping driver to arrive and be ready to occupy the space. This was efficient (drivers didn’t have to drive around aimlessly looking for a spot to be vacated) and got cars parked more quickly, reducing traffic, but the city of Baltimore banned the app, claiming it was “unfair.”
Had a particularly bad experience with something similar. I was trying to pull through to an empty spot. Some one was walking through that spot and put their groceries in the passenger side of their vehicle. They then fiddled with them for some time. I didn't time it, but it seemed to be at least 3 minutes. I didn't honk or make any kind of gesture to pressure them. I just waited. When they had walked around to their driver's side I finished parking, left my car, and went into the store. When I came back, my driver's side car door was covered in scratches.
I mean, for me it's because I first wait to see if the person's gonna pass by me, then if they stop I now need to account for them when pulling out, and 9 times outta 10 they're way too close for me to comfortably back my car out.
meanwhile, i dont fasten my seatbelt and just get out of the spot quickly, just so that person doesnt have to wait. i probably even point them to where my car is, so they dont drive past it.
5:16 "People will undermine entire organizations with their territoriaity." Yep, warehouse or parts supply cage so-called managers are notoriously miserly with supplies. This was the case when I worked as a cable TV technician.
I always try to hurry up when someone is waiting for me, whether I'm leaving a parking spot, pulling out of an ATM, using a self checkout, even when I'm driving and someone is waiting to turn onto the street. Life would be just a tiny little bit easier if everyone was a little more courteous to each other.
The library aisle surprised me, as I generally try to be as courteous as possible in a library. i wonder if this was studied in a university library, where students might be stressed out working on assignments, or a public library with more people reading for pleasure?
I also wonder if they were browsing, perhaps they wanted to move further down the aisle but now couldn’t because the second person was there, so they continue looking around, waiting for those titles to be free to browse?
I was surprised by this as well, but I'm an assertive-confident and I don't get possessive about library aisles. Library desks, maybe. I come early so I can get to it and leave stuff on it when I pop out for lunch.
I teach driving, and use the term "monitor, protect, and manage your personal space" when driving in traffic. I refer time and space as resources to manage, and you can choose if you'd like to share or trade it with other drivers.
I'm trying to get others to not do that. If I see someone idling nearby waiting for a spot, I hop in and immediately pull out of my spot. I pull over 2 car lengths down and do all the settling in stuff while they're parking in. I always get a thanks if they're walking past me before I drive off. I see a few of the same drivers doing it for others now. It's not a high success rate, but it's more than none. What I want to know is why there's always that driver who parks in two spots. All the regulars in the neighborhood knows how hard it is to find parking, but there's always those special few.
I think there's pressure on both people. The person leaving knows there's someone waiting, and the person waiting is sometimes blocking the path of other drivers.
I get territorial about my work area (I'm a dishwasher at a couple of local restaurants). These are small, busy spaces and I'm not generally great with people being in my personal space even when I know that there's nothing personal about it for them. Definitely something to keep in mind and work at, even if just for my own mental health.
3:32 - This interpretation, that men care about fancy cars and women don't, is very surface level, and I'm not at all sure it's what's really going on. My guess is that men are more deferential to status hierarchies based on control of resources than women are, and the fancy car is a demonstration that the person owning the car controls more resources.
When i was in high school in California, our campus was filled with picnic benches. None of them were particularly luxurious, but they were nonetheless claimed by friend groups who would harass you and demand that you leave if you weren't part of their group.
I rush when someone wants to take my spot. Unless they honk. In the store or library, when somebody seems to want to look at the stuff I'm looking at, or use a computer, or what have you, I try to wrap it up as quickly as possible. Courtesy has always been in my blood, but I also have some serious self-worth issues and am very passive when it comes to communication and boundary-setting. This has a big influence on territorialness I think.
The territorial thing makes me think of how depressed I get every time my property management company increases rent, always makes me remember what I consider "my home" isn't really mine and can be taken away whenever.
I experienced the same thing when there was a second lane for left turns onto a highway. The second lane was added to prevent those turning left from blocking traffic for those going straight. So if you had the audacity to get in that second lane, it was like you were trying to cut in line, you were trying to cheat. Then it was game on for the left lane if the second lane was the one ending. Smart way would have been to change things up and make the far left lane the one that ends. I know of a couple of on ramps that did that. It threw those territorial far left lane drivers for a loop. Suddenly they were the ones scrambling before their lane ended. 😂
I thought people were just hisitating to see what the other person is doing since they don't want to get hit as they're backing out of a parking lot...
I'd never heard of that. If someone's waiting for my spot or even if no one is but I notice there isn't much parking available, I feel pressure to leave my parking space quickly. I don't want anyone feeling resentful toward me. Same for drivethroughs - I always pull away from the window as soon as I have my purchase and card back, and then only stop to put away my card if there's no one behind me in the line. But yeah, if they honk at me, I'm gonna take longer, not because I'm trying to do so (though I don't feel bad about it in such a scenario), but because they startle me and make me look around to figure out who is honking and why. Is it any personalization on your vehicle or just bumper stickers? I feel like I'm a pretty timid driver (though I can definitely get fear aggressive at times) and I have decals (geeky and/or cute), but no bumper stickers.
I have serious social anxiety. If someone is too close to me, I tend to get so nervous I feel sick. So I move. I hate when someone is in the same isle as me in stores, libraries - or too close to me on a sidewalk. I find it absolutely incredible that my first instinct to get away from this unknown variable is the exact opposite to the average human.
I feel like people do this at the grocery store. I work in one and it seems like whenever I'm working a certain area and someone needs to get something where I'm stocking they take an unnaturally long time picking out what they want. It's like they know I'm waiting to get in there so they just stand there and stare at the shelf for an eternity and then finally take the thing they were staring directly at the entire time.
I would like to see that study in Germany, where many people back *into* parking spots when they arrive. Therefore, there is no "afraid to back into the waiting car" argument. In a situation where I'm about to give up a "coveted resource" like a parking spot, I sometimes think things like "ok, if I forgot something now, I won't be able to find another parking spot quickly - so I'm going to take a moment to make sure I didn't forget to buy/do anything I was supposed to".
Meanwhile I'll be either fleeing the library aisle as soon as possible or pretending to peruse until the person leaves so they don't judge my book choices.
@Hank (i.e. the man): Did this study take into account other factors that might naturally slow a person from exiting a spot to make way for others beyond territoriality? For example, though my experience is obviously anecdotal / not peer reviewed, when I’m about to back out and see someone is waiting with their blinker on, I sometimes naturally take longer because the presence of a waiting vehicle sparks me to double check for other cars and rethink the angle of my car reversal. The las thing I want to do is hit another car and ruin their day! This seems like more of a casual safety consideration rather than a deep seeded territoriality, and I’m guessing these kinds of cursory practical considerations might be significantly at play in a way that makes the territory argument a bit fuzzy. Also, Disa from the Denver Zoo is one of my good friends. I’m so happy you got to meet her!
the entire time i was like "i am nothing like those people" but then they mentioned the study spots and... yeah. I never went as far as asking for my spot back, but i remember being really put off when i came back and there was someone on "my" spot.
The same seat at lunch at school. Every day. The territorial arguments when some other kid claims "your seat" with their backpack while you are in line, or if someone moves your backpack, etc.
Tables in the cafe car on the Amtrak NE corridor definitely get the territorial treatment. One person will spread their stuff out to take up the entire table that's meant to seat 4. The coaches are like this too, folks always sit in one seat and put their bag in the other so they don't have to sit next to someone. I won't pretend I'm immune from doing the second one.
5:00 In the library, I would guess it's more social desirability. If someone is watching, you are selecting more carefully, and you make sure that you don't overlook something others might find interesting, so you look more a connaisseur.
I definitely have the opposite of this instinct, to the point where if I'm in the grocery checkout and I have a lot of groceries, and someone is waiting next, I actually feel guilty to the point of getting almost panicky.
Potential confounding factor for the bathroom stall study: most people don't want to be thought of as someone who spends a lot of time in a bathroom stall.
When I get in my car and go to back up, if I see someone behind me, I generally wait several extra seconds to make sure that car really is waiting and not about to drive past me. At least in my case, its about being cautious and not petty.
And it probably takes a few more seconds to actually back out, because you have to be more careful and judge the distance to the car that is in the way.
That was what I was thinking. I usually wait to make sure they aren't trying to get through before I continue pulling out of the space. People waiting because of territorial reasons is crazy for me. I am kind of assuming that scientists made some kind of assumption there because I kind of doubt they went after the cars that pulled out and asked them why they took more time. Or maybe a survey process for unrelated drivers? I need more info on these studies. Lol.
Came to say just that. I'm defending a resource, but that resource is my car, not the space.
Its not territorialness that keeps me from leaving as fast, its being nervous now because there's another thing I could possibly hit that I have to account for and I'm already nervous about backing up
This, backing up already sucks, someone sitting too close to me is just going to make me want to wait for them to move before backing out of the spot.
Instead of kicking the can down the road I always back into my spots on arrival.
All the visibility and awareness that you already have being out in the lane analyzing all your surroundings while you look for a spot is much better than the quick or snail exit to make sure you're not running someone over
💯 this. I am so confused by the parking spaces segment. I've never stayed in a spot due to territorial behavior. I just want to make sure the person "waiting" isn't about to fly past me at the same time I start to back up. Even with blinkers on, I've seen people do it. Or people behind the person waiting will try to go around or some bonkers behavior. Drivers act irrationally! I usually wait a good 5-10 seconds to make sure they are remaining completely stopped. Perhaps men are more territorial than woman... but a woman, this just sounds absurd to me.
@littlegandhi1199 that's the way it should be done but god, it's a hard habit to get into when you're not used to backing into parking spaces.
@ObsessiveCompulsiveClown also its not ideal when you're trying to put stuff like groceries in your trunk and now that trunk if facing the hood of another car, and your cart can't easily get between cars lol
Interestingly, I tend to move faster when I know someone is waiting for my spot.
Me too! I was wondering if it might be a neurodivergent thing.
So do I. If they honk at me, however, oh we're gonna be awhile!
Pushover
@@Apocalymon That's a weird way to spell "considerate"
Same here, I feel far more pressure to get buckled and moving ASAP and skip adjusting the AC vents, quick checking my phone, etc. when I see someone is waiting for my spot
I don't know about anyone else, but the reason I'm slow to pull out of a spot when someone is waiting is not because it's more valuable to me or something. It's because they're blocking sight lines in an already crowded parking lot, and they might suddenly drive forward at any moment, so I trust the safety of the environment less and I'm more cautious.
same, it always makes super nervous when someone is waiting for my spot
Kellogs drivers are everywhere
How the heck did they rule out the complication of there now being another car they could hit and people taking time to reevaluate the direction they want to backup into?
clickbait
Confounded it
I think that's where the high and low status cars came in. But I agree, I would like to see other territorial behaviors than timing per se
@@robertairvin2310 Status doesn't matter to Territorial. However. The difference reinforces my point. If you see an car driving down the road which has clearly been in three different accidents. Do you wounder about the driving abilities of the driver? on the other end. If you see someone driving a perfectly preserved antique car or otherwise expensive car, do you not thing they must be careful drivers as they don't want to wrench them? Tell me, which car would you feel more comfortable pulling out in front of.
I was wondering the same thing, but there are a number of factors that lead me to give the researchers the benefit of the doubt here. For one, we only got a brief summary of the study; it's likely in their own paper that these concerns were addressed in some way and Sci-Show just cut it for time. More importantly though, the other studies, such as the library studies and phone study, don't have nearly as many potential confounding variables involved and yet they still show the same territorial behaviour. These combined show that this sort of irrational territorial behaviour likely does exist, and therefore likely played some role in the parking spot study results as well.
Honestly people just feel pressured when they’re being watched and when someone’s waiting for them to finish. More likely to screw up.
also 6 seconds is easily explained by checking if the person is waiting, if you can pull out of the spot safely and pulling out slowly to not endanger them. So that would be the exact opposite result of the actual study and from my experience I have certainly taken a bit longer to properly assess the situation and to not "endanger" the person waiting
Yep. I would definitely spend an extra few seconds. 😀
This is true for moth of this. I find people around are little destructions, so I would take longer.
Hank. Sure, this research is coming to the right conclusion?
@@ogge8375 remember that 6 secons is the average, not the extra time it took most people to pull out of the parking spot .
@@martinadelvai4115 I am aware, but its definitely a reasonable time in many cases also depending how much space is available I can imagine people taking more than 6 seconds extra
@ogge8375 That is a VERY good point. Even if you didn't see the car waiting before you got in, a full lot may well result in other spot-hunting cars in the lot. These, in turn, may prime someone to be watchful of cars in general; car-dodging mode, if you will.
Could it be that people get nervous when they know they are being watched? Like when someone watches you type or do math?
This is definitely me😅
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Myself I would maybe take longer because there is a car there and I need to drive and watch mofe carefully because of that.
This is me in these situations. Oh, there’s a car there now? I can’t fling myself willy nilly out of the spot, I have to be more careful. Oh there’s someone in my space? I can’t just pick up any book, I am going to be more thorough. Territorial doesn’t feel anything like how I feel in these situations.
This is why I hated it when teachers leered over your shoulder/deal to see how you were doing during exams. Saboteurs for real
Some, probably.
I find that people rarely seem to think "How would I feel on the receiving end of this behavior?" I don't pretend to understand it.
We learn about the golden rule in kindergarten, treat others the way you want to be treated, yet somehow forget it as adults
Did the parking study account for how close the waiter pulled in? Seems totally expected to take a little longer if you feel someone might inch behind you into the space you need to back into, especially in a legal system where that would place you backing out as liable for any damages. Also seems totally expected to be upset at someone you perceive as rushing you, imo, I think that would put the honking scenario into the altruism/punishment category.
Yep. This was my first thought. I have anxiety around backing out of parking spots, and sometimes the way people pull in to wait makes the space I can pull out into much tighter. Of course I go slower, but contrary to this study, I feel extremely anxious about that fact and in reality want out as fast as humanly possible
It seems that you're assuming the study used angle parking, whereas I was imagining parallel parking, where the mechanics make pulling in too close (alongside the car you want to leave) much less likely, at least in my experience. Unfortunately the abstract linked doesn't indicate what style of parking was under study.
@@mattgies Well Hank heavily implied the study was done in a packed parking lot, and the abstract mentions a mall, both of which make parallel parking unlikely. In a parallel parking situation on a busy street someone waiting behind you may make it easier to pull out quickly as they block traffic.
@@klutterkicker Yeah, you're probably right. I just had parallel parking on the mind because it actually happened to me yesterday: I was looking for parking and saw a car ahead turn on its reversing lights. So I stopped behind and activated my turn signal. They proceeded to sit there without moving for what must have been about 2 minutes. Fortunately no cars arrived behind me to make me give up waiting.
Reverse camera. I'll have this in any car ever. All cars should have it.
You should talk about the study a couple years back that showed drivers of large SUVs and trucks tend to be more aggressive/bigger jerks both on and off the road.
i think jerks then to drive suv and trucks
Was that the one where the guy put rubber animal on the edge of the road and watched the jerks who went out of their way to hit them? And someone else set up a camera at an intersection with a lot of pedestrian traffic and confirmed that it was the luxury vehicle which were crowding the pedestrians. Showing that money turns humans into jerks.
5:58 it makes sense how promoting a culture of competitiveness increases this counterproductive petty territorialism
I forget who said it, but a traveller once said that in America, everything is a competition. From courts to 'debates' to reality TV. I kinda feel like they nailed it there : )
@@mcv2178 it's the capitalist mindset. Greedily taking from others, including those who need it most is good because it's capitalism. Helping others, sharing your belongings and taking care of nature is evil because it's communism.
It is known
I've never waited for a parking spot in my life. My method is simple. When I enter a parking lot, I gauge how full it seems to be. If it's over 95% full, meaning there will only be a few empty spaces, I immediately drive towards the zone that would be least desirable. There will always be 1 or 2 spaces there. If the parking lot is only 50% full, I just park at the first decent empty spot I see. If it's mostly empty, then and ONLY then, do I drive towards the more desirable/closer spots and look for one.
Worst case scenario with my strategy, I get 2 free minutes of cardio that I would otherwise spend looking for a close spot.
Exactly
Yup. I never feel pressure to free my spot quickly when someone is waiting for me. There is _always_ another available spot, and it is quicker for them to just park further away and walk the extra 10 spaces than wait on me
@@EricSundquistKC Yeah. I, age 16, was with my fat, lazy grandfather back in the 1960s as he literally drove around for 20! minutes trying to find a place to park right in front of the destination. I never said anything because he was an unpleasant person. He passed up many spaces where we would only have to walk 3 or 4 spaces. At one point I decided to note the time to see how long this insanity would go on. It ended when he managed to get a spot at the end of the row across from the door we were visiting. Now he would be the type to be territorial about that spot.
Always one or two spaces available? Clearly you’ve never been to a Trader Joe’s in California.
@@CaritasGothKaraoke I actually live in California, but I do not generally go to Trader Joe's, no. However I frequent Costco. The one I go to has an absolutely massive parking lot and there are spaces way behind the Costco that never fill up, probably over a hundred of them. But it is a bit of a walk.
Idk about all this. I try to go faster if someone is waiting, but I often take longer because I am nervous about hitting the person waiting close behind me. I already have anxiety about backing out of parking lots as it is, so being watched is not fun. If they honk, then I may straight up panic and take even longer
You should try backing in so you don't have to back out.
@@zeke1220 Aahhhhhh! Bad advice! Too many people just never learned to drive a car.
Nice. Single anecdote vs data
If they honk I might take longer out of spite, but that has nothing to do with "territorialness". I don't care at all about the spot, I'm just inflicting a small form of petty revenge as a way to teach them a lesson about being an impatient douche. All that said, I've never had anyone honk at me when leaving a parking space.
This study seems jank as hell. I'm surprised SciShow is even talking about it.
@virginiamoss7045 Then they should learn. If someone is bad at parking, then they need to go to an empty lot and practice. This is something they should have done when getting their license. If someone is a bad driver, they are actively risking the lives of everyone around them. Either become a good driver or don't drive.
For the library example, I stay around longer to not give the impression I'm only leaving because they came.
Is that rational, though?
I’ve done this in grocery isles when I’m not in anyone’s way.
Or if someone is blocking the items I want to access, I will look at other adjacent items while I wait, and when they move, I will linger a few seconds before going to the items I was waiting for.
To the commenter asking if it’s rational, I don’t think it matters if it’s rational or not.
I do it because I don’t want people to feel like I am waiting for them to get out of my way because when that happens to me, I feel bad that I didn’t realize I was in someone’s way. Usually if it is urgent, people will say something, but that’s hard to remember in the moment.
And for the example of browsing a few seconds longer when someone else enters the aisle, I have a feeling it might be more common with women than men. I am a woman and I do this behaviour as a sort of signal that I am not trying to avoid them or made uneasy by their presence and am not changing my behavior because of them. Now if they need to go where I am and indicate that, I of COURSE will get out of their way.
I view this as a very small effort (habitual now) that has a potentially large impact of not leading to negative vibes. Is it rational? Maybe not. But I think social interactions get an exception from that.
I think it also might be a social thing, especially in the non-fiction aisles. As in, you’re interested in this? I am, too! Maybe I’ll strike up a conversation with you?
Glad people here are saying what I was thinking. When someone is waiting on me I get more anxious and careful. If they honk at me and try to rush me, then I become pissy and territorial
I think the library thing can be understood as "I don't want to leave this area, because I don't want them to think they're shooing me away or being disrespectful." I've spent longer in areas just because I don't want them to think I think it's a competition to be in that area, which is kinda counterproductive considering I'm actively competing for the area. It's a weird undisclosed statement of "I want you to feel welcome here, and that you're not in my way."
The same can be said for grocery stores when you're waiting for something. I'll linger around just in case I may forget something, because I know that once I leave someone will likely enter my spot which makes it harder for me if I want to come back. I still am never clear on the etiquette of whether you should be on the side you're looking for things on, or on the opposite side. You either cover up the area other people may want something from, or you create the uncomfortable situation of forcing people to walk in front of you if they're passing you.
When others are waiting, the person leaving has less room to maneuver when backing out. If someone is honking, that person could be impatient, so the risk of a collision is higher.
I wonder how much of the parking situation is actually territorial nature and how much is “I am still assessing the goals of this stranger behind me and calculating the route least likely to result in an accidental collision while backing out”
I don't think all people leaving "slowly" are doing it territoriality, if there are people or cars around I want to be careful, so I go slower. Though if they decide to honk at me I might just re-park my car and find another reason to need to be parked there. Cause a. ruuude. and b. I don't trust them to not cause an accident if they are that impatient.
Though I think I tend to yield most "territories" cause it's not worth the time or effort to be territorial.
Back in the day, when I still smoked, my sister and I were at a big box membership store. We loaded the stuff into her car and got in. About that moment, someone honked their horn at us. My sister, who was always against my smoking, said, "You need to get out and have a cigarette, right now!"
@@CZPanthyr I hope you took your time about it, too! I think a lot of it is just the feeling that someone is aggressively trying to make you do something. Of course that's going to get someone's hackles up! People who honk horns for any reason other than to alert someone about to hit them are nearly always both terrible drivers and utterly insufferable people.
@@CZPanthyr lol I suppose now if you don't smoke you can suddenly get a phone call that needs you absolute attention.
Glad to see the comments tearing this idea apart, here's another one for the bathroom stall vs. parking space comparison: When you're about to pull out of a space, you know pretty well the person is waiting on _you_ specifically. If you're in a stall and you don't leave, someone else will.
Did these researchers control for _any_ variables?
A lot of these findings sound like straight up chimp energy territoriality, including the "high staus" deference.
One good example of this was my classroom in high school history. The teacher I had was very chill and half way through the year he was talking about human nature and territoriality. His example was us... he never gave us assigned seating nor did anyone change seating that entire time.. no one even changed after being called out on it.
Tbh sometimes it makes sense for practicality id imagine. Ive been homeschooled to i wouldnt know all that much about the classroom but i'd imagine it's just nice to collectively "decide" a seat so you can just.. walk right to it. Less stressful.
And if it has a little "cubby" shelf thingy (mostly for earlier grades where you don't move classrooms throughout the day) in it you could just leave things there/not have to deal with that every time you leave/sit down.
Perhaps even just being familiar with who's around you for example.
The small things. Probably more i havent thought of.
Yea, people choose whichever seat in most comfortable for them and don’t usually change it unless something happens to make it uncomfortable, either physically or socially, I usually picked a spot near the front by the wall near the door if I was comfortable with that class because I don’t have good eyesight and my voice is naturally too quiet to hear sometimes, but if I didn’t feel academically comfortable in the class I would find a spot a bit further back to hide in the crowd to avoid being called to answer questions but not in the back row, and if I wasn’t socially comfortable in the room I would pick a back corner so I had walls behind and beside me and I could always tell if anyone was looking at me so I could concentrate better on my work without being distracted by the people behind me. In my opinion the most confident people usually picked the middle seats closest to the front even if all of the wall seats and seats further back weren’t taken yet.
Oh man, had to come straight to this video... I just got back from adventures in not one but four parking lots.
One of my pet peeves: it's a relatively full lot, and cars are roaming around trying to find a space. I'm backing out of my spot, but I can't because the cars are whizzing behind me. I clearly have my reverse lights on, so it's not like there's doubt that I'm backing out. If someone lets me leave, he/she can then take my soon to be vacated space - which happened to be the closest non-ADA spot to the store.
People get so caught up looking for *empty* spots, that they don't look for *emptying* spots. Half of me wanted to get out and give the Jerry Maguire "help me help you" speech.
Wait, the cars in your area don't stalk you as you're walking to your car? 😮 They haven't learnt the art
@@julesverneinoz EXACTLY, that's the next level... never mind looking for empty spots, never mind looking for emptying spots, they would be looking for the people who are about to empty a spot.
😅- as far as parking goes im just glad to get inside the lines (it’s the small victories)
🤣👍
Sure bro
Small quibble: the use of "possessive" words in English, and many languages, does not necessarily encode a sense of "possession" as in ownership. This simplified understanding of a grammatical concept is rather pernicious, but think about it, if I say "my brother," nobody would think that I am saying I "own" said brother. Rather we understand it to mean a relationship. Likewise, "my lane" does not necessarily mean "I think I OWN this lane;" it can simply mean "the lane I am in, as opposed to the lane the other was in." If you say "my flight leaves at 9am," or "my ride is here," or "my train is late," all sorts of things, nobody would assume you think you own these objects or concepts. The "possessive" structure of grammar is way more versatile than mere literal "possession."
The reason why this nuance matters, is because you have every right to be angry when someone cuts you off. Just like with everything in life, there are legal and social conventions that we expect others to obey to keep everything running smoothly and safely. When you are driving 2-4 ton death machines, it is incumbent on all drivers to be mindful of others on the road and that means giving them space. It doesn't matter that you don't literally, legally, own the space, when someone cuts you off they are stepping out of line. What is cutting off? It's abruptly and not safely changing into lanes or turning right in front of another car, causing them to have to slow down sharply or stop lest they potentially crash into you. Maybe you speed up to get in front of them instead of slow down or wait to just pull in behind. Maybe you didn't put your signal on, or put it on so last second it wasn't enough time to warn the other driver anyway. These are all dangerous and obnoxious behaviors that cause annoyance and anxiety to others. If you cut someone off, they aren't angry because you infringed on "their space," they are angry because you infringed on their right to a safe and worry-free journey. Oh and if you book it around me via a wide shoulder for God knows what reason, I will smash my fist onto the horn and not remove it for all the duration you are still in front of me, even if you take two hands off the wheel to flip me birds you mother F-ing worthless human trash, and next time I WILL get your license plate and call the cops too. Be happy I don't yet have a dash cam! Ugh I hate route 20 in Guilderland.
I also concur with everyone in the comments pointing out that there could be two very obvious other reasons why drivers would take longer to leave when another car is watching them: (1) the nervousness that comes from being watched and knowing someone is waiting for you, and (2) the fact that there is now another a car potentially in the way and complicating your already difficult task of getting out of the parking spot, meaning that at the very least you have to take a moment to reassess your path out. I also would add that taking longer on purpose when someone rudely honks at you is so obvious of a behavior that it really needs no explanation. It's like I said about cutting people off - it's a horrid social transgression and thus no wonder that those transgressed would retaliate.
Just read Ursala K. LeGuin's "Dispossessed" and you'll see how often we use possessive language without meaning actual ownership. But I like what you had to say about it not being "my lane" of traffic but "my safety" that was infringed upon. Very true.
tables/stools at a bar, seats in a classroom without assigned seating, pews in church.... people do get possessive. or maybe it's just a matter of strangers interfering with your habits and rituals, more OCD than territoriality. it sounds like that parking-lot study drew conclusions without accounting for all possible explanations. note the number of comments about exercising more care when backing out when there is a car in the lane waiting. happened to me today. i just wanted to go to work, not assert my superiority... but i wasn't gonna back into a waiting car.
That's not what OCD is
I used to let the anxiety of knowing that someone's waiting get to me, and would try to leave before I was properly settled into my car, but at some point I realised it's just not worth the stress. I'll leave when I'm ready to leave. It's not being territorial - it's being safe.
The only time I ever intentionally wait to leave a spot once I'm ready to leave is when someone's waiting too close, and there's no room for me to pull out in the direction I plan to travel.
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”, but when somebody is anxiously waiting for your spot and you rush, you’re more likely to make mistakes that make the process take longer.
I always assumed the parking issue was fear of your car and the other hitting each other, regardless of who is at fault. I am also fascinated at how people have no problem turning into a parking spot, but when they back out, they don't immediately start turning (reversing their action) and instead have to back up half a car length then get stuck with not enough room to turn anymore.
This is me. I'm hyper careful when someone is *right there* and I can't predict their behavior as well.
i am assuming you are speaking loosely, but unless your parking spots are huge, turning immediately will hit the car next to you, obviously. you do drive right? your complaint strikes me as one from someone who has seen backing out a parking spot, but has never done it...
How fast I move out of the spot completely depends on how patient the person waiting is. If they immediately start honking, or whatever, I will DEFINITELY be taking my sweet ass time.
It also depends on how crowded I feel. If they give me plenty of room and are patient, I will hurry.
I tend to sit in my parked car for a time because my car is my "man cave" and an opportunity to sit in peace and silence. However if someone is looking to park in the spot I'm occupying I will quickly pull out and head on my way. Someone waiting on me makes me very anxious and that ruins my peace.
See, I take longer when someone is waiting for me to get my car moving because they're BLOCKING MY ABILITY TO GET OUTTA THE FRIGGIN PARKING SPOT
In the parking lot scenario, isn't the reason, once there is a car behind you, even waiting, the waiting car blocks the view of the car backing out. That makes the driver of the parked car check extra carefully, and back out more slowly. At least, that is me.
I think some people wait if there is someone waiting, if they are too close and backing out sucks.
this. exactly this.
sometimes it's even impossible to back out.
Honking only works on the person who's honking. It's like shouting, "Get out of the way." Most of the time, no one listening. Unless you tell their name first.
Someone honked at me other day and i was slightly displeased so slowed down just a bit in response
That'll teach them to honk at me
When someone honks at me, I just turn the car off and wait for them to leave. I don't put with it. I will leave after everyone is buckled in, my Spotify on with my phone in its mount, and nav started. 😅 So yeah takes me awhile.
@@AllyriaMoon oh their honk was in an intersection but i still went slower turning lol
@@AllyriaMoon I do that too but less to be a jerk and more of an anxiety freeze response and lack of depth perception, and turning off the engine is my way of signaling I'm not moving until it's clear.
The studies and experiments don’t indicate that “territoriality” is the reason for the behaviour. Just that the behaviour exists.
For instance, another possible hypothesis for the behaviour might be “to punish people for acting entitled.” Certainly, if I take longer in a parking spot, that’s why. And it would better explain the additional slowdown when they honk.
That would also explain why we don’t do it in the toilet: people who really need to go aren’t entitled, they’re just dancing.
I think people are right in saying they often are just more nervous to pull out when someone's waiting, but this is exactly why people should back INTO a spot! So much safer! But then also, pulling up a route, checking messages, not wanting to feel panicky and rushed before driving are valid reasons to wait longer too.
I'd be interested in the reverse scenario - people seem to be extemely impatient and get too close when you've signalled to park INTO a spot and need to wait for you to do so before they can safely get away. I bet that makes it take longer.
I'm glad anxieties were mentioned as a missing component of the study because that certainly accounts for much of the behavior, especially when remaining still is often the (staying out of the way) factor or increasing time to communicate verbally or otherwise.
Parking: If there's a car waiting I have to recalculate how fast they're moving, whether they've stopped, opposed to no obstruction when I can smoothly pull out.
Payphone: Suddenly having a person waiting can trigger social queues and remind you of other things you had yet to communicate or an interruption which occurs
Men vs Women: Women are generally more cautious and likely to assume a more defensive posturing in things due to social constructs predominantly due to the day to day violences committed against women.
It's not about people cutting 'into my lane" it's about cutting in too close and making the situation exponentially more dangerous than it had to be which obviously in the instant can make one angry. Not to mention the difficulties of social anxiety we have.
Also, I only honk if I think the person I am honking at has lost focus for some reason. Especially with someone like me who can lose focus easily if I was delaying something cause of that a honk can always help me do what I was going to anyway.
A red light turns green and the pedestrian started crossing the road as I wanted to make a right hand turn.
As I waited, the guy behind me started yelling GO GO GO so I STAYED because I was confused and worried about the screaming mans safety. It did cause the pedestrian to unwisely run across traffic to hurry up and also caused me to drive quite slowly away, accidentally on purpose.
Poor guy lost 11 seconds of his time that day, I hope he made it to that life threatening appointment on time.
10:20 Urinals are very territorial
I wonder if the "common victomhood" of staying in line together, made them want to use the toilet faster, so their "fellow victims", currently also suffering in line wouldn't have to wait so long. Makes the most sense to me
I wonder how these studies would work out in different cultures, the middle east, china, japan, northern europe
Not just country differences. Different suburbs in the same region have different parking cultures. Sometimes how many older people who have time to harass the town council about issues and to keep them honest also makes a difference in availability (in turn, their 'preciousness').
I've had the opposite happen. I was attending a monthly social, and when I arrived, the person sitting at the corner got up and switched seats. When I wondered what she was doing, she said it's because I usually sit there. I told her we don't have designated seats, but she wanted to move anyway.
SUPER FUN FACT: At home I park the car in an underground garage divided into many private "Units" (or "Boxes"). These Units were made in the '80s when vehicles were considerably smaller than today's. So, If another car is being parked in a unit near mine, I wait patiently for my turn as it would Not be feasible to maneuver two vehicles next to each other. I noticed that many people tend to get pretty nervous with their driving when you wait for them while they are trying to fit their SUVs in those small Units. It already happened TWICE recently that two different people, for which I was waiting, scratched the side of their car in the attempt to park quickly.
EDIT: I drive a BEATER by the way.
Waiting for a closer spot is ridiculous and inefficient. I can park in a further parking spot and be almost in the store before those people back out of their spot. Oh no I walked a whole 20 feet extra. Oh no!
This is exactly why I almost always park at the back of the lot! Especially at high traffic stores, where the closer you get to the entrance the more likely pedestrian traffic is to slow you down too
@@paperip1996 When you have kids, you want to spend as little time traversing the dangers of the parking lot as possible, but yeah, when I'm alone I agree.
If you are in a big city sometimes there are literally no other spots and you are already parking blocks away from your destination
@@boygenius538_8 if you are blocks away from the parking lot of the place you are trying to visit, You're either using Apple flyover and you're lost, are you're doing parking wrong. Not to mention, if you're in a hurry then don't be rushing everyone else. That's your bad time management skills.
Hmm, I have a few questions. 1) Did the perception of time increase for those waiting for the parked spot to clear? 2) Is it really territorial or just that today people dabble with their phones before they leave? Perhaps entering a new a new destination on the gps, following up on a text, etc.
This 100%. I always check my phone before pulling out of a parking space because it's way safer to check texts etc beforehand, when you are not actively driving!!
Seems like anytime I see someone get into their car and put their foot on the brake preparing to leave a crowded parking lot, that's the time when the driver suddenly takes out his/her phone and texts everyone they know, and maybe calls a few friends for good measure, and perhaps watches a few TikTok videos. Then they finally pull out and drive off 5-10 minutes later.
I go to exercise sessions with about 20 people in the hall and no defined spaces. It's interesting that most people go to the exact same place each session and at least one person gradually moves around creating extra space for themselves.
I'm not very good at exercise so my habit is to hide at the back of the class.
Is it a law that someone has to leave immediately after getting into their vehicle? That's the thing that really irks me is that they follow you all the way to your car and pressure you to leave immediately. This was the worst in college when the only place I could get any sleep between classes was in my car, and I would have to tell 50 people that I am not leaving right now just to cross the parking lot.
Not only do I not feel safe with people following me, sometimes driving like a couple feet behind me, but its just awkward. I dont think I should have to feel pressured to hurry up just for walking to my car. It feels like a bit of entitlement on the part of the parking vultures. Ive shook my head to let people know I am not leaving and people got mad, like they claimed my spot because they saw me walking. I almost never wait for people's spots, and if I do, I accept all of the consequences including waiting forever only to figure out they arent gonna leave. I just park farther away and walk, I dont trust people to park around me anyways. Im not saying I deliberately make people wait and uaually I get in and go, but if I am not ready to leave then I am not ready to leave.
It's the parking culture in your area(s). People in mine never got angry when I indicated I'm not leaving (I just wave 'no' when they follow). They look stressed and disappointed, but not angry, usually on very hot days.
Your case is quite unique too, I think. You're dying to sleep, which means you have little patience dealing with others bothering you, which heightens the irritation.
4:57 I think the library example is probably just an example of how everything takes so much longer when you’re distracted, and multitasking isn’t really a thing, because you have to keep track of all the other people in the aisles in case you need to move to let them through and every time you take your attention away from the books on the shelves you’re looking at to keep track of where the people are and go back to searching for a book you have to find where you left off looking on the shelf first to start looking for whatever books you are interested in reading again and that takes much more time than if you are alone and you can concentrate completely on looking for a good book to read.
I've experienced this so many times in the grocery store.
Usually, someone blocking the whole aisle with their cart, sideways.
And then they spend a full 10-15 minutes to pick ONE item.
Now this is something I've experienced, people behaving as if there is no one else in the store but themselves. I always pause my cart so people can get by even if there is no one in the aisle. (I like your spelling; how it ever got to be "aisle" has got to be so incredibly stupid.)
This isn't territorialism it's just not blocking a pathway
When this happens I just leave the aisle and go get my other stuff, it's so awkward just standing there blatantly waiting while the people take their sweet time
The parking spot thing definitely speaks to me a bit. I don't like idle time, so I try to get out of the spot as fast as safely possible regardless of if anyone's waiting or not, but I can relate to the "my spot" thing. Every time I go to the grocery store by my house and see both veteran parking spots are taken, I think that a non-vet just took the close spot. I have no problem walking farther, and honestly there's usually a closer spot, but those 2 are mine! Very weird.
Maybe your area is different, but 99% of the time there is plenty of parking, it's just further away. I do not wait for cars to pull out, unless they are already moving when I approach. I just pick a spot that is a little further away. It confuses me that folks will drive around a parking lot for 5 minutes to get a "good" spot, especially if they are going to be parked for an hour or more.
I work as a security guard, and I have spot I always sit in and when I see someone sitting in that spot, I get very upset.
This past winter, I gave up waiting for one person to leave after 3 minutes waiting and moved on to find a different spot, I look in my rear-view mirror and see them finally leaving, so I made a three-point turn in the parking lot and they then put the car in drive and pulled back into that spot. There were 3 other cars in the lot looking for a space, so they weren't going to keep the space no matter what, but it was so weird. That bit about the type of car you drive making a difference explains so much. By the way, that person didn't leave until after I found a different spot. It wasn't anyone I knew; I had never been to that town before. Maybe they thought they knew me, or maybe they just drew a line and felt they had to defend it no matter how ridiculous.
! Idea ! Wondering if there's a study on people taking longer on tasks when being watched. As one diagnosed w/ ADHD, I know I get flustered and focus and 9 different things and get reminded of all sorts of exciting tasks to complete in the future..
Questioning if those who are neurotypical act in the same manner and if the pressure has an impact on the time taken to move from that parking spot
edit: grammar & format
I overthink!!!! Sue me
Actually please don't, please don't
Years ago there was an app that let drivers looking for parking give a small tip to a person who was about to leave their parking spot, the tip was for waiting a few moments for the tipping driver to arrive and be ready to occupy the space. This was efficient (drivers didn’t have to drive around aimlessly looking for a spot to be vacated) and got cars parked more quickly, reducing traffic, but the city of Baltimore banned the app, claiming it was “unfair.”
Doo doo diligence 😂 10:20
Outstanding video (as usual!). I can't wait to show it to my husband 😁😉 Really glad you're back, Hank; your vids are my fave SciShow!
7:50 Give extra distance to kook mobiles. Got it!
OMG! The "My Precious" literally had me laughing out loud. Hilarious!
Had a particularly bad experience with something similar. I was trying to pull through to an empty spot. Some one was walking through that spot and put their groceries in the passenger side of their vehicle. They then fiddled with them for some time. I didn't time it, but it seemed to be at least 3 minutes. I didn't honk or make any kind of gesture to pressure them. I just waited. When they had walked around to their driver's side I finished parking, left my car, and went into the store. When I came back, my driver's side car door was covered in scratches.
This is bizarre but I’m not clear on what it has to do with this study
some people are also just colossal jerks
I mean, for me it's because I first wait to see if the person's gonna pass by me, then if they stop I now need to account for them when pulling out, and 9 times outta 10 they're way too close for me to comfortably back my car out.
meanwhile, i dont fasten my seatbelt and just get out of the spot quickly, just so that person doesnt have to wait. i probably even point them to where my car is, so they dont drive past it.
5:16 "People will undermine entire organizations with their territoriaity." Yep, warehouse or parts supply cage so-called managers are notoriously miserly with supplies.
This was the case when I worked as a cable TV technician.
I always try to hurry up when someone is waiting for me, whether I'm leaving a parking spot, pulling out of an ATM, using a self checkout, even when I'm driving and someone is waiting to turn onto the street. Life would be just a tiny little bit easier if everyone was a little more courteous to each other.
I wonder if the extra time in the library has to do with looking slower because of distractions
Glad to see you are healthy again Hank.
The library aisle surprised me, as I generally try to be as courteous as possible in a library. i wonder if this was studied in a university library, where students might be stressed out working on assignments, or a public library with more people reading for pleasure?
I also wonder if they were browsing, perhaps they wanted to move further down the aisle but now couldn’t because the second person was there, so they continue looking around, waiting for those titles to be free to browse?
I was surprised by this as well, but I'm an assertive-confident and I don't get possessive about library aisles. Library desks, maybe. I come early so I can get to it and leave stuff on it when I pop out for lunch.
I teach driving, and use the term "monitor, protect, and manage your personal space" when driving in traffic. I refer time and space as resources to manage, and you can choose if you'd like to share or trade it with other drivers.
I'm trying to get others to not do that. If I see someone idling nearby waiting for a spot, I hop in and immediately pull out of my spot. I pull over 2 car lengths down and do all the settling in stuff while they're parking in. I always get a thanks if they're walking past me before I drive off. I see a few of the same drivers doing it for others now. It's not a high success rate, but it's more than none.
What I want to know is why there's always that driver who parks in two spots. All the regulars in the neighborhood knows how hard it is to find parking, but there's always those special few.
I saw one at the local hardware store that took up four spaces
I think there's pressure on both people. The person leaving knows there's someone waiting, and the person waiting is sometimes blocking the path of other drivers.
I get territorial about my work area (I'm a dishwasher at a couple of local restaurants). These are small, busy spaces and I'm not generally great with people being in my personal space even when I know that there's nothing personal about it for them. Definitely something to keep in mind and work at, even if just for my own mental health.
3:32 - This interpretation, that men care about fancy cars and women don't, is very surface level, and I'm not at all sure it's what's really going on. My guess is that men are more deferential to status hierarchies based on control of resources than women are, and the fancy car is a demonstration that the person owning the car controls more resources.
seeing this 3 days before my driving test feels like it’s about to be ironic
When i was in high school in California, our campus was filled with picnic benches. None of them were particularly luxurious, but they were nonetheless claimed by friend groups who would harass you and demand that you leave if you weren't part of their group.
I move faster when I know someone is waiting for a commodity. I'm not sure if all these situations are examples of human territorialism.
I rush when someone wants to take my spot. Unless they honk. In the store or library, when somebody seems to want to look at the stuff I'm looking at, or use a computer, or what have you, I try to wrap it up as quickly as possible. Courtesy has always been in my blood, but I also have some serious self-worth issues and am very passive when it comes to communication and boundary-setting. This has a big influence on territorialness I think.
The territorial thing makes me think of how depressed I get every time my property management company increases rent, always makes me remember what I consider "my home" isn't really mine and can be taken away whenever.
I experienced the same thing when there was a second lane for left turns onto a highway. The second lane was added to prevent those turning left from blocking traffic for those going straight. So if you had the audacity to get in that second lane, it was like you were trying to cut in line, you were trying to cheat. Then it was game on for the left lane if the second lane was the one ending. Smart way would have been to change things up and make the far left lane the one that ends. I know of a couple of on ramps that did that. It threw those territorial far left lane drivers for a loop. Suddenly they were the ones scrambling before their lane ended. 😂
I thought people were just hisitating to see what the other person is doing since they don't want to get hit as they're backing out of a parking lot...
I'd never heard of that. If someone's waiting for my spot or even if no one is but I notice there isn't much parking available, I feel pressure to leave my parking space quickly. I don't want anyone feeling resentful toward me. Same for drivethroughs - I always pull away from the window as soon as I have my purchase and card back, and then only stop to put away my card if there's no one behind me in the line. But yeah, if they honk at me, I'm gonna take longer, not because I'm trying to do so (though I don't feel bad about it in such a scenario), but because they startle me and make me look around to figure out who is honking and why.
Is it any personalization on your vehicle or just bumper stickers? I feel like I'm a pretty timid driver (though I can definitely get fear aggressive at times) and I have decals (geeky and/or cute), but no bumper stickers.
I have serious social anxiety. If someone is too close to me, I tend to get so nervous I feel sick. So I move. I hate when someone is in the same isle as me in stores, libraries - or too close to me on a sidewalk. I find it absolutely incredible that my first instinct to get away from this unknown variable is the exact opposite to the average human.
Loving these new scishow vides in this new fancy studio:)
I feel like people do this at the grocery store. I work in one and it seems like whenever I'm working a certain area and someone needs to get something where I'm stocking they take an unnaturally long time picking out what they want. It's like they know I'm waiting to get in there so they just stand there and stare at the shelf for an eternity and then finally take the thing they were staring directly at the entire time.
I love Hank turning to camera 🎥 two!
I would like to see that study in Germany, where many people back *into* parking spots when they arrive. Therefore, there is no "afraid to back into the waiting car" argument.
In a situation where I'm about to give up a "coveted resource" like a parking spot, I sometimes think things like "ok, if I forgot something now, I won't be able to find another parking spot quickly - so I'm going to take a moment to make sure I didn't forget to buy/do anything I was supposed to".
Meanwhile I'll be either fleeing the library aisle as soon as possible or pretending to peruse until the person leaves so they don't judge my book choices.
I'm really enjoying the return to long form content
Now find a way to stop the person waiting pulling up so close that you can’t reverse out properly.
@Hank (i.e. the man): Did this study take into account other factors that might naturally slow a person from exiting a spot to make way for others beyond territoriality? For example, though my experience is obviously anecdotal / not peer reviewed, when I’m about to back out and see someone is waiting with their blinker on, I sometimes naturally take longer because the presence of a waiting vehicle sparks me to double check for other cars and rethink the angle of my car reversal. The las thing I want to do is hit another car and ruin their day! This seems like more of a casual safety consideration rather than a deep seeded territoriality, and I’m guessing these kinds of cursory practical considerations might be significantly at play in a way that makes the territory argument a bit fuzzy.
Also, Disa from the Denver Zoo is one of my good friends. I’m so happy you got to meet her!
the entire time i was like "i am nothing like those people" but then they mentioned the study spots and... yeah. I never went as far as asking for my spot back, but i remember being really put off when i came back and there was someone on "my" spot.
The same seat at lunch at school. Every day. The territorial arguments when some other kid claims "your seat" with their backpack while you are in line, or if someone moves your backpack, etc.
Tables in the cafe car on the Amtrak NE corridor definitely get the territorial treatment. One person will spread their stuff out to take up the entire table that's meant to seat 4. The coaches are like this too, folks always sit in one seat and put their bag in the other so they don't have to sit next to someone. I won't pretend I'm immune from doing the second one.
What about when people are jerks and steal a spot that someone is clearly waiting for?
5:00 In the library, I would guess it's more social desirability. If someone is watching, you are selecting more carefully, and you make sure that you don't overlook something others might find interesting, so you look more a connaisseur.
I definitely have the opposite of this instinct, to the point where if I'm in the grocery checkout and I have a lot of groceries, and someone is waiting next, I actually feel guilty to the point of getting almost panicky.
Potential confounding factor for the bathroom stall study: most people don't want to be thought of as someone who spends a lot of time in a bathroom stall.
7:32 I guess it would be more appropriate to say that “They cut into the lane that I was using.”