Spörrle Matthias, Stich Jennifer
Department of Psychology, University of Munich, General Psychology II, Leopoldstraße 13, 80802 München, Germany.
Evol Psychol. 2010 Aug 3;8(3):405-19. doi: 10.1177/147470491000800308.
Although humans spend a third of their life asleep, their choice of sleeping places has so far been little investigated both theoretically and empirically. We address this issue from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Our basic assumption is that humans have an evolved preference for safe sleeping places, that is, those that promise protection against potential aggressors and nighttime predation. Several testable predictions were derived from this assumption concerning the preferred location of the bed in a sleeping room. Specifically, we predicted that people prefer sleeping places that allow them to view the entrances to the sleeping room (doors and windows) from a distance while remaining concealed from the entrances themselves. To test these hypotheses, 138 participants were asked to arrange a bed and other pieces of furniture on floor plans that were experimentally manipulated with respect to the direction in which the door opened and the presence of a window. In agreement with predictions, participants predominantly positioned the bed in a way that (a) allowed them to see the door, (b) was as distant as possible from the door, and (c) was on the side of the room toward which the door opened. In addition, the positioning of the bed was influenced as predicted by the presence of a window.
尽管人类一生中有三分之一的时间在睡眠中度过，但迄今为止，无论是从理论上还是实证上，对他们睡眠地点的选择都鲜有研究。我们从进化心理学的角度来探讨这个问题。我们的基本假设是，人类对安全的睡眠地点有一种进化而来的偏好，也就是说，那些能够保证免受潜在攻击者和夜间捕食者侵害的地方。从这个假设出发，我们得出了几个关于卧室中床的首选位置的可测试预测。具体来说，我们预测人们更喜欢这样的睡眠地点：他们能够从一定距离看到卧室的入口（门和窗户），同时又能不让入口处的人看到自己。为了检验这些假设，我们让138名参与者在经过实验操纵的平面图上布置床和其他家具，平面图在门的开启方向和窗户的有无方面有所不同。与预测一致，参与者主要以这样的方式放置床：（a）能看到门，（b）离门尽可能远，（c）在门所朝向的房间一侧。此外，正如预测的那样，床的位置受到窗户的影响。
