Boundaries around group interaction: The effect of group size and member status on boundary permeability.

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Abstract
Hypothesized that the size of a group and the status of its members reduce the permeability of a boundary around an interacting group. 2 or 4 interacting people of high or low status interrupted the traffic flow in a university hallway. The behavior of 339 passersby supported the hypotheses: Fewer passersby walked through the high-status groups than the low-status groups (p < .05) and fewer passersby penetrated the 4-person groups than 2-person groups (p < .05). A control condition where wastebarrels replaced the interactors was penetrated more than an interacting group (p < .001). Findings support S. M. Lyman and M. B. Scott's 1967 hypothesis that interacting groups develop territorial boundaries and S. Milgram and H. Toch's 1969 hypothesis that group boundaries vary in their permeability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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