Patterns of Behaviour

Researchers have a concept, that can be handy to apply in the real world although it rarely is.  It’s the idea of behaviour settings.

When scientists talk about behaviour settings, they’re using a single term to refer to both the physical environment and human thoughts and behaviours in that area, one term to include the idea of what’s going on where.

When we want to encourage people to act in particular ways, if we bring up reminders of where they do do whatever is desired, the actions wanted become more likely as behaviour setting research indicates the frequency with which actions are tied to elements of places.

An example: even in today’s electronics heavy worlds, people know that when they’re in a library it’s expected that they’ll respect the needs of others to concentrate and will therefore speak in hushed tones or not at all, give people space/keep up interaction deferring zones around each other, avoid stressing others out by tapping our pencil on the tabletop, etc.

We link all of those behaviours, the speaking quietly, etc., to libraries and locations that bring libraries to mind will bring out the same behaviours in us.  If in our part of the world, libraries have large oak tables and green-shaded table top lamps, including the same sorts of tables and lights in another space, such as an in-home study area for children being home schooled, makes quiet, respectful behaviour more likely.

The same is true, of course, for other stimuli.  When we see small round tables, for instance, the sort that often find their way into dining nooks, where we often have quite relaxed conversations with friends, the presence of the same sort of places to sit elsewhere can prompt more relaxed, intimate exchanges—at home, at work, in restaurants, wherever.

The idea of behaviour settings can seem related to thoughts of “affordances” and affordances tend to be more often discussed in the world-at-large, but often without that specialized term.

 Affordances are the various ways that something can be used that are inherent in the form of the thing.  People will inevitably sit down on horizontal surfaces a few feet off the floor, whether that surface is officially a chair or a table or a rim around the top of a planter, for instance, sitting is such a logical use that it cannot be ignored or in the real world avoided.  If you add an horizontal surface of a “sittable” type to a space you’re working on, but it is not actually sittable, for example, because it is built our of a brittle material, there will be lots of cracked tailbones.

Another example of affordances: areas without furniture that seem to be travel routes through a space.  If these areas are actually acoustic buffer zones between groups designed to reduce acoustic distractions, the sound of people talking as they use the “path” to travel together to a meeting, will be very unwelcome by those in the space-separated zones trying to get some work done.

Behaviour settings and affordances are handy ideas to keep in mind as you design spaces at home, work, or elsewhere.