Regarding interpersonal distance an

Regarding interpersonal distance and liking, research has shown that physical proximity leads to
liking. Participants who were experimentally placed closer or adjacent to each other liked each other
more (Kahn & McGaughey, 1977; McAndrew, 1993; Mehrabian, 1972) and were more likely to become
friends (Back et al., 2008). Seating arrangements in primary education are usually created by teachers
and under their control. Children usually cannot decide themselves where to sit. Based on the association
between physical proximity and liking among adults, we hypothesized that classmates would
like each other more when they sat closer to each other in the classroom.