Study of the Impact of Isfahan Jame (Atiq) Mosque’s Milieu on Users’ Behavior by Psychological Methods

Abstract

This research has endeavored to investigate popular locations in Isfahan’s Jame mosque (Atiq) for different groups of users and the means that they receive, by using a reverse process. The main research question to be answered by this study was ‘how the dominant physical and spatial features of the Jame (Atiq) Mosque impact the behavior of its users?’ The methodologies utilized in this study were library research and the psychological field studies. Data were collected through observation by technique of ‘Behavioral Map and List’ to study the users’ behaviors. Questionnaires were also distributed by employing two techniques, namely ‘differentiation meaning’ and ‘grasping the mental map’ which are used to study the meaning of the mosque from the viewpoints of its users. By employing the SPSS21 software, the results of the gathered data from the questionnaires were separately analyzed for different groups of users which were divided by “age”, “gender” and the “aim of being in mosque”. The results demonstrated that a relationship existed between the architectural features of Jame (Atiq) Mosque and the behavior of its users. In other words, the architectural features of this mosque created different perceptions in the users and thus led to the different behavior in them. Findings indicated that women and men selected different parts to stop in the yard. In spite of the tourists who paid attention to all parts of the mosque, the prayers paid attention to the ‘Kiblah’ direction and the southern veranda.