School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK.
Br J Health Psychol. 2011 May;16(Pt 2):373-85. doi: 10.1348/135910710X510395. Epub 2011 Mar 11.
We investigated whether individuals mimic the stair/escalator choices of preceding pedestrians. Our methodology sought to separate cases where the 'model' and 'follower' were acquaintances or strangers.
Natural experiment.
Infrared monitors provided a second-by-second log of when pedestrians ascended adjacent stairs/escalators in a mall. Manual timings established that stair climbers spent ≥ 7 s on ascent, during which time they could act as models to following pedestrians. Thus, individuals who mounted the stairs/escalator ≤ 7 s after the previous stair climber were assigned to a 'stair model' condition. A 'no stair model' condition comprised individuals with a gap to the previous stair climber of ≥ 60 s. The stair model condition was subdivided, depending if the gap between model and follower was 1-2 s or 3-7 s. It was hypothesized that the former cohort may know the model.
Percentage stair climbing was significantly higher in the 'stair model' versus 'no stair model' condition (odds ratio [OR]= 2.08). Subgroup analyses showed greater effects in the '1-2 s' cohort (OR = 3.33) than the '3-7 s' cohort (OR = 1.39).
Individuals appear to mimic the stair/escalator choices of fellow pedestrians, with more modest effects between strangers. People exposed to message prompts at stair/escalator sites are known to take the stairs unprompted in subsequent situations. Our results suggest that these individuals could recruit a second generation of stair climbers via mimicry. Additionally, some of the immediate behavioural effects observed in interventions may be a product of mimicry, rather than a direct effect of the messages themselves.
我们研究了个体是否模仿前面行人的楼梯/自动扶梯选择。我们的方法旨在区分“模型”和“跟随者”是熟人还是陌生人的情况。
自然实验。
红外监测器提供了商场中相邻楼梯/自动扶梯上行人每秒钟上升的记录。手动计时确定了楼梯攀登者在上升过程中花费≥7 秒的时间，在此期间，他们可以作为后续行人的模型。因此，在前一个楼梯攀登者之后≤7 秒登上楼梯/自动扶梯的人被分配到“楼梯模型”条件。“无楼梯模型”条件包括与前一个楼梯攀登者的间隔≥60 秒的个体。楼梯模型条件根据模型和跟随者之间的间隔是 1-2 秒还是 3-7 秒进行细分。假设前一组可能认识模型。
在“楼梯模型”与“无楼梯模型”条件下，楼梯攀爬的百分比明显更高（优势比 [OR]=2.08）。亚组分析表明，在“1-2 秒”队列（OR=3.33）中的效果大于在“3-7 秒”队列（OR=1.39）中的效果。
个体似乎模仿同伴行人的楼梯/自动扶梯选择，在陌生人之间的影响较小。已知在楼梯/自动扶梯处接受信息提示的人在随后的情况下会无需提示而选择楼梯。我们的结果表明，这些个体可以通过模仿招募第二代楼梯攀登者。此外，干预措施中观察到的一些即时行为效应可能是模仿的产物，而不是信息本身的直接影响。
