Shared Space Invasion and Race

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Abstract
The tendency of shoppers at a suburban shopping mall to walk between conversing black, white, or mixed-race male dyads was observed. Both male and female shoppers (N = 508, 93.7% white) were more likely to walk through the black dyad than through the white or the mixed-race dyads. These results are interpreted as indicating a relative lack of consideration for the black dyad's interaction territory. When walking around a mixed-race dyad, shoppers more often chose to pass behind the white member. These findings suggest that the often subtle effects of racial attitudes can be studied unobtrusively using the invasion of shared space paradigm.