There are a number of theories as to why these trend habits begin, but their persistence has everything to do with predictability. People move in predictable patterns, and this is often a good thing. Take driving a car, for example. If motorists do not move the way other drivers expect, chaos will erupt and many stops, including four-way stops, will become accident zones.
There is also some speculation that the side of the road that people usually drive on could influence the direction they choose to walk as pedestrians. According to this theory, people in the United States drive on the right side of the road, so they are more likely to turn right when walking around a block, for example, following a clockwise path.
Scientists have investigated how and why people choose to skew left or right when presented with options.
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But studies of retail shoppers in Great Britain, Australia and Japan, where people drive on the left side of the road, show that they tend to turn left — counterclockwise — when navigating store aisles.
These geographic differences in animal movement patterns are not observed, as herds tend to migrate in the same direction generation after generation.