These findings provide additional insight in the ‘‘cycle of popularity’’ (Eder, 1985). In Eder’s (1985)
study, girls who were observed during lunch breaks used seating arrangements to include friends and
exclude less popular peers. As a result, they had fewer interactions with peers of lower status and
stronger feelings of dislike and resentment toward them. The current findings show a similar cycle;when children could design their own seating arrangement, they placed the classmates who were well
liked and popular in the classroom close to themselves. Moreover, they placed classmates they personally
liked or perceived as popular close to themselves. Thus, children not only use lunch seating
arrangements to include others they like or admire but also use classroom seating arrangements if
they can. In Eder’s study, timing was crucial for the association between popularity and proximity.
Children wanted to sit closer to popular peers initially, whereas popular girls were generally avoided
later. We found that children still prefer to sit close to popular classroom peers or peers they perceive
as popular even later during the school year.