When I was in junior high school (1969), it was vogue to wear our skirts as "long as our first knuckle" (they were only as long as it took to reach the first knuckle on our middle finger -- remember the original mini skirts... ;-) ...??). Since our Jr Hi was one of those old fashioned 3 1/3 story buildings with stairwells, mezzanines, and giant windows, it became obvious that our society of 11, 12, & 13 yr olds needed to be taught some very specific manners... :-) ...
I remember - vividly- an entire day of walking single file (as entire classes) up and down the stairs, straight down hallways, crossing to the other side of hallways, and filing through narrow passageways (eg, locker rooms). The commands were "please always stay to the right", "...eyes are to be straight...", "speak softly only if necessary", "courtesy is shown with 'please' and 'thank-you'; use the words 'excuse me' when you must interrupt with your words or your body" -- I can remember Mr. Curran and Mrs. Simonton drilling us with these words among others.. :-) ...??? The girls were taught in separate sessions how to carry books with one hand while holding the back of a skirt with the back of the other hand. (I can even remember the outfit I was wearing on this day of "training"... :-) ...?!) We were also promised the "reward" of detention time if we were observed behaving without benefit of the manners we had been taught. (I remember that the current mayor of our hometown spent many 10 minute detention sessions in the library for yelling to another across the hallway and or zig-zagging on his way to class... ;-) ...)
I would bet a paycheck that every one of us still at least feels a little guilty when we find ourselves walking down the left side of a hallway -- even today... ;-) ...
I know this certainly isn't a scientific reference for the "why" of walking on the right side of the aisle, but it does seem an example of how one might come to do so... ;-) ...
cjb
At 11:21 PM 8/6/2003 -0500, you wrote:
Hi all:
I use PowerPoint presentations and for the first day I have a "welcome to class" slide with very basic information on it. I would like to include a "snappy", intriguing question related to psychology that also relates to some everyday, common behavior many don't think about. One of my colleagues suggested, "On which side of the aisle do you push your cart when you are grocery shopping and why?" (According to her, most people push their cart on the right hand side of the aisle because this behavior generalized from traffic laws.) I'd like to have a reference (she couldn't provide one) to support the answer.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for replying....
Jean Edwards
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (please use this email until August 13, 2003)
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Teaching Associate, Psychology
Colby College
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