The Place of Architectural Factors in Behavioral Theories of Privacy

Although much of the recent concern for privacy as a central issue in the study of interpersonal behavior has arisen within the area of environmental psychology, the environment presented in this literature tends to lack enduring properties which set it apart from the behavior to which it is presumably related. By contrast, a model of the environment is proposed which is sensitive to physical properties which are independent of normative and symbolic associations imposed by tradition. This model indicates how the selection of one's location and orientation within an architecturally bounded setting can affect both the acquisition of information about surrounding activities and the abilities of others to take notice of one's own behavior. Within this framework selective conspicuousness is suggested as the chief means of privacy regulation. Selective conspicuousness involves a trade off between the environmental and behavioral options available for concealing or disclosing information about oneself with the physical environment presenting certain initial conditions upon which behavior is contingent.