Preliminary Experiment on the Effect of a Magic Circle on Behavior Change

In this paper, we investigated the effect of a magic circle projected on the ground as a shikake. The experiment was conducted for nine days under three conditions; nothing projected, projecting a circular light, and projecting a magic circle. We observed the behavior of pedestrians and found that the magic circle had no effect on changing the direction of movement, but it did have an effect on path; pedestrians avoided the projected circle, though not the circular light. Using the idea of semiotics, we concluded that the behavioral changes could have been caused by pedestrians’ interpretations of the message of the magic circle.