Mock Test 5

A. Of the great myriad of problems which man and the world face today, there are three significant fields which stand above all others in importance: unprecedented population growth throughout the world; the increasing urbanization of these people, so that more and more are rushing into cities and urban areas; and the tremendous explosion of communication and social contact throughout the world. All of these fields are producing increased crowding and the perception of crowding.

B. It is important to emphasize that crowding and density are not necessarily the same. Density is the number of individuals per unit area or unit space. It is a simple physical measurement. Crowding is a product of density, communication, contact and activity. It implies pressure, force and a psychological reaction. It may occur at widely different densities. A frontiersman may have felt crowded when someone built a homestead a mile away, while a suburbanite may feel uncrowded in a small house on a half-acre lot if it is surrounded by trees and hedges. Hence, crowding is a psychological and ecological phenomenon, not just a physical condition.

C. A classic crowding study was done by Calhoun, who put rats into a physical environment designed to accommodate 50 rats and provided enough food, water and nesting materials. The rat population peaked at 80. Although the rats experienced no resource limitations other than space restriction, negative conditions developed: dominant males took harems and occupied more than their share of space; many females stopped building nests and abandoned infant rats; pregnancy declined; infant and adult mortality increased; aggressive attacks occurred; and sexual variation increased.

D. Calhoun's results led to other research on crowding's effects on humans, and findings suggest that high density is not the single cause of negative effects. When crowding is defined only in terms of spatial density, the effects are variable. However, if crowding is defined in terms of social density, or the number of people who must interact, then crowding better predicts negative psychological and physical effects.

E. There are several reasons why crowding makes us uncomfortable. One is stimulus overload: there are too many stimuli competing for attention, and we cannot notice or respond to all of them. This is typical of the harried mother with several children competing for attention while she is on the phone and the doorbell rings. This leaves her confused, fatigued and yearning to withdraw. There are strong feelings of a lack of privacy, being unable to pay attention to what you want without being interrupted or observed by others.

F. Field studies in a variety of settings show that social density is associated with negative effects on humans. In prison studies, males generally became more aggressive with increases in density. Male inmates living in conditions of higher densities were more likely to suffer from fights. Males rated themselves as more aggressive in small rooms, while females rated themselves as more aggressive in large rooms. These differences relate to the different personal space requirements of the genders. Baum and Greenberg found that high density leads to decreased attraction and liking toward others, with males experiencing a more extreme reaction. The greater the density, the less helping behavior, possibly because of diffusion of responsibility.

G. Facing these problems, what can we do? The more control a person has over a crowded environment, the less negatively they experience it; thus perceived crowding is reduced. The ability to cope with crowding is also influenced by the relationship the individual has with the other people in the situation. High density will be interpreted less negatively if the individual experiences it with people he likes. One coping strategy is social withdrawal, including averting the gaze and using negative body language to block intrusions.