The Effects of Group Size and Position on Vigilance in Young Adults.

Vigilance behavior in animals has been attributed to various scientific explanations. One of the most widely accepted functions of vigilance is to increase the ability to detect predators. This skill is better known as anti-predator vigilance. Anti-predator vigilance is described simply as a state of being alert to predators. This is an imperative ability for almost any animal's survival. Animals, as well as humans, need to constantly be aware of the dangers surrounding them. In …

…larger group size. These studies are complimentary to ours. We took the human aspect of Wirtz and Warwa (1986) and attempted to combine it with the predator aspect of Bertram's study (1980). We found that vigilance among pedestrians facing traffic decreased when surrounded by larger groups of people. The results of the main effect for confederate position showed that vigilance amounts were lower when confederates were placed in the side-front condition as oppose to the behind condition.