Territorial defense in parking lots: Retaliation against waiting drivers

R. Barry Ruback, Daniel Juieng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Three studies showed that drivers leaving a public parking space are territorial even when such behavior is contrary to their goal of leaving. In Study 1 (observations of 200 departing cars), intruded-upon drivers took longer to leave than nonintruded-upon drivers. In Study 2, an experiment involving 240 drivers in which level of intrusion and status of intruder were manipulated, drivers took longer to leave when another car was present and when the intruder honked. Males left significantly sooner when intruded upon by a higher rather than lower status car, whereas females' departure times did not differ as a function of the status of the car. There was evidence that distraction might explain some of this effect. In Study 3, individuals who had parked at a mall were asked about how they would react to intruders. Compared to what they believed other people would do, respondents said they would leave faster if the car were just waiting for them to leave but they would take longer to leave if the driver in the car honked at them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)821-834
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Applied Social Psychology
Volume27
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 1997

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Territorial defense in parking lots: Retaliation against waiting drivers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this