in an elevator = monkey!!!

I had posted a comment about elevators a while ago on facebook…”generally people stare the ceiling often when in an elevator…” Freakonomics has an interesting article on the Elevators make monkey out of us. This article describes the behavior of various people when in an elevator..things like people staring at the ceiling when there are two people in an elevator – why do they try to stand far away at the corner of the elevator etc..etc..

Two people who know each other stand close by…have you observed where you are standing when you have a stranger in an elevator…often two strangers try to stand away from each other – its just a signal to the other person not to get close or showing that ‘I am not interested in an conversation!’. Why don’t most of the people start a conversation with a stranger…They might start a conversation if they had met this person in a train, or a bus stand where there were other people around… We all try to be social when we think its safe, else no matter what we wont trigger a conversation or give a smiling gesture if we think it wasn’t safe to be with the stranger and elevator being a closed box adds a little fear to the scene…