Experience Of Crowding Research Articles

Differential effects of spatial crowding and sex on behavior.

This study examined the nature of the interaction of the spatial variables, number of people in a group and density, with sex of subject as it affects the experience of crowding and behavior. A 3 X 2 factorial design was employed; the independent variables were spatial crowding and sex, and the dependent variables, measures of performance on a memory task, perceived comfort, and perception of the environment. 90 males and 90 females were tested in homogeneous sex groups in one of three conditions: (a) 30 subjects per group, (b) 6 subjects sitting as close together as (a), and (c) 6 subjects per group sitting far apart. The major finding was the differential effect of the spatial variables on males and females for accuracy of perception of some aspects of the environment; for males, number of people in the group was the critical factor, for females density was the critical factor. Other results indicated that all subjects, regardless of sex, felt less comfortable in large groups than in small ones but that density influenced the judgment of how many people could fit comfortably in the room. There was no significant effect of the spatial variables on memory. One implication of this study is that future research on crowding should concentrate more on interactive effects rather than single factors.

Interpersonal Mediation of Perceived Crowding and Control in Residential Dyads and Triads

The role of interpersonal relationships in mediating the experience of crowding and loss of personal control was investigated in dormitory environments housing two or three students in bedroom units. A combination of survey, observational, and laboratory techniques was used to explore the formation of 2‐person coalitions in tripled housing and subsequent problems created for the third, “left‐out” roommate. Data strongly suggested that the aversiveness and loss of control previously associated with tripled residential settings may be more plausibly attributed to the inherent instability of 3‐person groups and the loss of control associated with being excluded from group activities. In most of the tripled rooms studied, 2‐person coalitions formed and most of the crowding and negative affect reported were expressed by the third roommate, who felt left out by the others. Residents of doubled rooms and members of coalitions in tripled rooms did not differ from one another on most dimensions.

Effects of resource availability and importance of behavior on the experience of crowding.

Effects of resource availability and importance of behavior on the experience of crowding.

Effects of resource availability and importance of behavior on the experience of crowding.

According to the interference formulation, participants in a crowded setting will experience interference to the extent that behavioral goals conflict with environmental conditions. The importance of the behavioral goals directly affects not only the magnitude of the interference but also the mechanism by which people cope with interference. It was reasoned that important goals would induce a more active coping strategy in a crowded setting than in an uncrowded setting and would maintain task performance at the price of increasing crowding stress. When the behavioral goal is unimportant, decrements in task performance preclude a rise in stress. A laboratory study manipulated group size, in order to vary the availability of resources, and the importance of the task behavior. The predictions were confirmed, and partial confirmation was obtained for predictions involving the effects of the internal-external personality dimension. The meaning of the results is discussed in terms of other findings in the literature on crowding and the mediating role of the type of mechanism used to cope with interference.

Household density and human crowding: Unravelling a non-linear relationship

Several social scientists argue that the subjective experience of crowding is conceptually distinct from population density. The present field research empirically supports this reasoning and suggests that crowding intervenes between density, on the one hand, and resi dential satisfaction and psychological strain on the other, and that the relationship between density and crowding is nonlinear. That is, a positive relationship between household density and its direct "effects" appears only with moderately high and higher levels of density. Data were obtained from interviews with residents of public housing projects in two middle-sized Canadian cities.

The Experience of Crowding

A multidimensional scaling study was performed to clarify the status of the construct crowding. The study was based on the assumption that crowding experiences involve an attribution process during which individuals label and define their emotional state. Semantic interrelationships between linguistic constructs which mediate this attribution process were described by multidimensional scaling and hierarchical clustering procedures. Results revealed clusters of experiential terms which were consonant with prominent theoretical perspectives on crowding, as well as clusters indicating dimensions of crowding not included in current models. The data suggest that a taxonomy of crowding experiences may be required.

STOKOLS, DANIEL, The Experience of Crowding in Primary and Secondary Environments

STOKOLS, DANIEL, The Experience of Crowding in Primary and Secondary Environments

The Experience of Crowding in Primary and Secondary Environments

The Experience of Crowding in Primary and Secondary Environments

The experience of crowding: a two-factor theory.

It was proposed that the experience of crowding occurs in a two-step process: First, the individual becomes aroused by violations of his personal space, and then he attributes the cause of this arousal to other people in his environment. Based on this model it was predicted that violations of personal space rather than simple density is the spatial variable associated with crowding. Further, it was predicted that the experience of crowding can be alleviated if the individual is distracted from making the attribution that his arousal is caused by other people. In order to test these prediction, interaction distance (close and far) and density (high and low) were varied separately. In addition, for half of the conditions, pictures (attribution inhibitors) were placed on the walls of the experimental room, and in the other half, the walls were bare. Subjects worked on two tasks and were then questioned about their experience of crowding. The results showed that interaction distance was more closely related to crowding than was density and that the addition of pictures reduced the experience of crowding only in the close interaction conditions. The results were interpreted as supporting the attribution analysis of crowding.

The experience of crowding: A two-factor theory.

The experience of crowding: A two-factor theory.

Changes in the social behaviour of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, in response to the gregarizing pheromone

Experiments were carried out on second instar nymphs and immature adults of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, to observe the effect of a pheromone, produced by crowded locusts, on the social behaviour of locusts reared in visual and tactile isolation. The three parameters of social behaviour measured (numbers touching, grouping, and at the arena edge) were not affected by the pheromone to the same extent or in the same direction. The pheromone facilitated the grouping behaviour of nymphs. Isolated nymphs themselves did not produce the pheromone; or if they did, it was in insufficient amounts to alter each others behaviour. The increase in grouping observed also in adults was not due to a direct effect of the pheromone on the adult stage, but was probably a residual effect from exposure during the nymphal stage. Exposure of isolated adults to the pheromone caused an altered distribution of touching locusts; compared with fully crowded and fully isolated adults, more were found in small groups (two locusts only) than in larger groups (three or more). The pheromone did not alter the rate of learning to group of nymphs or adults, either in the 2-hr test period or with further tests on adults. Isolated adults exposed to the pheromone showed a fall in grouping after some experience of social crowding. Choice experiments carried out on individual adults gave complex and inconsistent results.

The Role of Group Phenomena in the Experience of Crowding

The Role of Group Phenomena in the Experience of Crowding

BAUM, ANDREW, R. EDWARD HARPIN, and STUART VALINS, The Role of Group Phenomena in the Experience of Crowding. Environment and Behavior 7(2) p. 185

BAUM, ANDREW, R. EDWARD HARPIN, and STUART VALINS, The Role of Group Phenomena in the Experience of Crowding. Environment and Behavior 7(2) p. 185

Waiting for a crowd: the behavioral and perceptual effects of anticipated crowding.

An experiment was conducted in which subjects were convinced that crowding was imminent. It was hypothesized that the arousal of expectations of crowding would cause subjects to behave in ways suggesting that they were preparing for the experience of crowding by taking steps to reduce the impact of crowding before its onset. Similarly, it was predicted that anticipation of crowding would influence subject perceptions of the experimental room, interpersonal affect, and general levels of discomfort. Data collected indicated that these predictions were accurate; subjects anticipating crowding chose more socially isolated seat positions, avoided contact with others, experienced crowding and discomfort, and rated others in the setting as well as the room in ways generally consistent with definitions of crowding.

On the distinction between density and crowding: some implications for future research.

Author(s): Stokols, D | Abstract: Identifies a distinction between the physical condition, density, defined purely in terms of spatial parameters, and the experience of crowding, a motivational state aroused through the interaction of spatial, social, and personal factors, and directed toward the alleviation of perceived spatial restriction. Future studies pertaining to augmentation of space, subjective reports of restriction, observational indexes of tension, and physiological indicators of strain are suggested. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1972 American Psychological Association.