The preferential use of spatial areas by 2- to 3-year-old children from a Brazilian university day care center was compared for 4 classes of behavior: peer interaction, isolated activity, spectator and socially directed behavior. Videos from a preceding study using three automatic video cameras in three phases (Ph), each of them with at least one circumscribed zone (ZC), were analyzed: PhI-shelves with surface of support delimiting one CZ and two areas without circumscription (5 sessions); PhII-2 CZs, one with and another without surface of support (5 sessions); PhIII-3 CZs, two of the preceding phase and a cardboard doll house (4 sessions). The minute by minute analysis of the children positions showed the preferential occurrence of spectators in the area around the adult (significant difference among areas in Phases I and II); the other three behaviors occurred mainly in the CZ with support, and there was a significant decrease in peer interactions in the area around the adult in PhIII.
Environmental psychology; spatial organization; peer interaction; day care center; ecological approach
