Psych 372 Environmental Psychology (9 Crowding) 421jz

Crowding Psychology 372

What we’ll cover • What is crowding? Crowding vs density • Variables affecting crowding

• Behavioural outcomes of crowding • Theories of crowding • Applications

Crowding • It would seem an obvious thing • Just measure people/unit distance • But doing this gives a measure of density • Crowding is more about the feeling of being crowded • We know this because many of the behavioural antecedents of crowding are independent of density

• Three components of crowding • A situational antecedent (close approach, new people arrive, access to something is blocked) • Affect – usually negative

• Behavioural consequence – aggression, leaving, withdrawing from

Montano and Adamopoulos - model for crowding • Studied a large number of different situations and came up with a 4 (situation) x 3 (affect) x 5 (behaviour) model to classify all instances of crowding, how we feel about them and how we respond • Situation – constraint, physical interference, mere presence of others, unmet expectations • Affect –negative reactions to others, negative reactions to situation, positive • Behaviour –assertion, completion, psychological withdrawal, physical withdrawal, adaptation

Variables affecting crowding • Personality • Locus of control, sociability, expectations, experience

• Gender • Mood, culture, history (community size) • Social influences • What others are doing (touching, doing things you don’t like) • Coalition formation • Provision of information

• Physical influences • Scale (at small scale, physical size most important) • Architecture (ceiling height, sunlight, architectural depth) • Temperature

Behavioural effects of crowding • Physiological and psychological stress • Research often difficult to interpret because many other things (such as income) often correlate with differences in density

• Crowding in public transit is known to increase salivary cortisol • But this depends – interpersonal spacing is much more important than density

• Performance • Some effects on complex tasks, those that require interaction, or where we are watched

• Social behaviour • Pathology – in aggregate studies, homicides are higher in high density but suicide rates are lower • Aggression – mostly tight correlations in prison • Gender differences

Behavioural effects of crowding • Social effects (continued) • Hostility and unhelpfulness • Dropped letter studies – letters less likely returned in high density

• Social withdrawal

The moderating effects of culture • Evidence is somewhat mixed but consensus is that there are cultural differences in both crowding sensitivity and in responses to crowding • One idea is that the age of a culture has an influence • Probably because, over time, rules, conventions, and strategies for dealing with crowding evolve • One study showed higher negative effects from residential crowding in Chicago for African Americans – a group that experienced daunting cultural upheaval over the past 2 centuries • Asian behavioural and design norms • Explicit roles and spatial markers for individuals of different status • Even looking in the wrong direction can be sacrosanct • Low emotional engagement • Queuing, for example

Theories of crowding • Like much of the rest of the field, there are many different theories meant to for different aspects of crowding – antecedents, behaviour, consequences • Antecedents • No encoming theory for personal or physical antecedents, though we have seen some important elements (gender, history, expectation for personal and architectural depth for physical) • For social, there is • density-intensity theory (everything is experienced more intensely at high density – a bit like physiological arousal and encroachment on personal space).  prisons always negative but cities can be positive at the same density • Social physics model  density conceived as acting almost like gravitational force, so we have to add up all the interpersonal distances to predict crowding

Theories of crowding • Psychological process theories • Loss of personal control • Cognitive control – can be achieved by presentation of information (eg. Waiting list times in crowds, warnings in traffic jambs) • Behavioural control – we are only upset in crowds when we are thwarted (eg. Happy in high density at a concert but not when it’s time to leave) • Decisional control – when a crowd limits our options, such as choosing a seat in a crowded cafeteria

• Overload theories • Similar to control theories but the emphasis is on the balance between preferred and incoming information • This allows the theory to incorporate personal factors

Theories of crowding • Consequences • Physiological – cortisol, high blood pressure, immune dysfunction • These are simple responses to crowding and very common

• Behavioural • Control theories predict that we will act to restore control (Reactance) • Violence, withdrawals

• Overload theories predict that we will act to restore balance • Most commonly, withdrawal

Applications • Prisons • This is one of the most important areas of application for crowding research because crowding in prisons, unlike most other places, translates strongly into violence • Early prison designs (and a few more recent ones), based on Bentham’s idea of the panopticon – all inmates can be seen but they don’t know when • Almost an obligatory loss of architectural depth • Prison reform efforts in Canada not necessarily guided by crowding concerns, but they do address them. • Dormitory style is rare • Architectural depth simulates home style settings