The Effect of Environmental Context in Eating Places On Students' Intimacy and Social Interaction

The reported study is based on the assumptions that intimacy is a concept that is interconnected with managing interactions within our social environment, and that different types of environmental contexts promote different levels of group intimacy and social interaction. To investigate these assumptions, the reported study tested the effect of both environmental structure (i.e., design and arrangement of interior space), and seating location (near entrance, next to window, in the middle and at the corner) on both group intimacy and social interaction. The study was conducted in two different eating environments (university student cafeteria, and an off campus restaurant), the customers of which, were mostly students. The results indicated the effect of environmental context on both group intimacy and social interaction. Moreover, results revealed a positive correlation between intimacy and social interaction, which was conditioned by the environmental context.