電梯里站的位置反映你的社會地位？

Most people know that awkward feeling when youshuffle into an elevator with other people and try not to make eye contact.

But new research suggests it may be down to a subconscious power struggle being played out as you make your way up or down.

A study found that people decide where they stand based on a micro social hierarchy, established within seconds of entering the lift.

Rebekah Rousi, a Ph.D. student in cognitive science, conducted an ethnographic study of elevator behaviour in two of the tallest office buildings in Adelaide, Australia.

As part of her research, she took a total of 30 lift rides in the two buildings, and discovered there was an established order to where people tended stand.

In a blog for Ethnography Matters, she writes that more senior men seemed to direct themselves towards the back of the elevator cabins.

She said: 'In front of them were younger men, and in front of them were women of all ages.'

She also noticed there was a difference in where people directed their gaze half way through the ride.

'Men watched the monitors, looked in the side mirrors (in one building) to see themselves, and in the door mirrors (of the other building) to also watch others.

'Women would watch the monitors and avoid eye contact with other users (unless in conversation) and the mirrors,' she writes.

The doctorate student concluded it could be that people who are shyer stand toward the front, where they can't see other passengers, whereas bolder people stand in the back, where they have a view of everyone else.

當你拖著腳和其他人一道走進電梯時，會盡量避開別人的目光，這種尷尬的感覺大多數人都了解。

但是新研究指出，在你上下電梯時，你的表現可能源自一種下意識的權利斗爭。

一項研究發(fā)現，人們在進電梯后數秒之內，就會根據一種微觀社會等級來決定自己站的位置。

認知科學專業(yè)的博士生瑞貝卡•茹茜在澳大利亞阿德萊德市最高的兩座辦公大樓里開展了一項關于電梯行為的人類學研究。

作為研究的一部分，她在這兩座大樓里一共搭乘了30次電梯，并發(fā)現人們傾向于按既定的秩序來選擇自己在電梯里站的位置。

在“人種志事態(tài)”博客中，她寫道，地位較高或年長的男人似乎更喜歡站在電梯轎廂的后面。

她寫道：“站在老年男人前面的是年輕一些的男人，站在年輕男人前面的是各個年齡段的女人。”

她還注意到，人們在乘梯途中目光的方向也有差異。

她寫道：“男人會看看電梯樓層顯示器，看一下(其中一座大樓)側面鏡子中的自己，或看看(另一座大樓的)鏡面門反射出的別人的影像。

“女人則會盯著電梯樓層顯示器，避免和其他用戶發(fā)生眼神接觸(除非有人和自己談話)，或者看鏡子。”

這名博士生得出結論說，那些比較害羞的人會站在電梯前面，這樣他們就看不到其他乘客，而膽子較大的人會站在后面，這樣他們就能看到每個人。