A Simulation of Rule-breaking Behavior in a Classroom: Focusing on the Condition Wherein a Student is not Affected by Classmates Seated Behind

A computer simulation of rule-breaking behavior was conducted. The simulation was based on Dynamic Social Impact Theory (DSIT; Latane et al., 1994). The purpose of the present study is to compare two conditions as follows: in the first condition (the normal condition), students were affected by all the students around them, and in the other condi-tion (the front and sides condition), students were not affected by the students behind them. The effects of the type of neighborhood (Moore neighborhood, von Neumann neighborhood, and DSIT), subgroups of students, the teacher, and so on were investigated. The results showed that the frequency of rule-breaking behavior for the front and sides condition was gener-ally higher than the frequency for the normal condition. In the front and sides condition, the frequency was higher when either the Moore neighborhood or the von Neumann neighborhood was used than it was when DSIT was used. However, there were no remarkable differences in frequencies between the Moore neighborhood and DSIT in the normal condition. There were no conspicuous differences in the subgroups' effects on rule-breaking frequency between the two conditions. Teachers' effects on the frequency of rule-breaking behavior for the front and sides condition were greater than they were for the normal condition. In the present study, a teacher was put at the center front of the classroom. Therefore, the teacher forced the students seated in the front of the classroom to obey rules. In the front and sides condition, these stu-dents would have easily affected the other students seated behind them