CROWDING

Prepared by:Lorraine Bagol Anecita Micutuan Jomelle Faith Timbal

LET’S DIFFERENTIATE!

Crowds Research – focuses on the formation of crowds, their shape and structure, their movement and control.

Crowding Research – focuses on the psychological stress of a person caused by his/her experience of the number of other people around.

Density – objective measure of the number of individuals per unit area.

Perceived density – individual’s estimate of the density in a place, accurate or not.

Affective density – emotional response to a high perceived density. When affective density is negative, it leads to crowding.

Functional density – occurs when affective density is positive.

Proximity – the number and nearness of people in a setting.

INFLUENCES ON CROWDING

1. PERSONAL INFLUENCES:

Personality and attitudes - A key aspect of this is locus of control- the tendency of individuals to believe (or not) that they exercise considerable influence over their own lives.- Individuals who believe this more (internals) generally have been found able to handle the stress of crowding better than those who believe it less (externals).

Psychiatric status - Those with disorders (schizophrenia, affective disorders, and neuroses) all felt significantly more crowded than those without disorders, and the more severe the disorder, the more crowded the individual felt.

Preferences, Expectations and Norms - Crowding partly depends on how many people one expects to be normal in a given situation.

Those who preferred higher densities felt less crowded; and those who expected higher densities than they found, felt less crowded.

Gender - Research performed in laboratory settings found out that men respond to high density more negatively than women; their moods and attitudes towards others are more hostile.

2. SOCIAL INFLUENCES:

The presence and behaviour of others - Crowding may or may not be intensified by high density; it depends on what those others are doing.

Interpersonal Similarity - Similarities of attitudes among those who you must share space reduce crowding.

The Provision of information - Crowding is also affected by the amount and type of info one is given before & during a high-density experience.

3. PHYSICAL INFLUENCES:

Architectural variations - crowding is affected by the arrangement of space in rooms and buildings.

Place variations - some places often have, or are expected to have more visitors than others. Crowding, therefore, is partly a function of place.

Weather - high temperatures can increase crowdedness.

HIGH DENSITY, CROWDING, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Alcohol Use

High density is found to be a factor of alcohol abuse. At a room level, studies show that persons when in groups drink more than when alone, not so much because they drink faster, but because they stay longer.

Child Development

The growth, development, and behaviour of children appear to suffer when household density is high.

Performance

The relationship between density and task depends on the nature of the task, which measure of performance is used, who is watching the performance, one’s expectations about density in the situation, and one’s personal space preferences.

Nature of Tasks -high density may affect the performance of complex but not simple tasks.

Expectations and Norms -Expectations about the situation also affect performance. Individuals who are subjected to high density and believe they will not do well on the task perform poorly.- Expectations about density itself also affect performance. A person who grows up in

high-density conditions may easily find ways to adapt to it, may consider high density to be normal, may prefer it, and/or may perform better in it.

Social (and anti-social) Behavior

Aspects that affect social behavior:

Aggression - high density, especially for males and especially over a long-term exposure, increases aggression.

- Men may feel more aggressive in short term exposure to high density, but they are socialized not to express it directly. Men in longer term, high-density situations, such as convicts, are more likely to act aggressively.

DISLIKE AND HOSTILITY - when high density is undesirable (it was not our choice or it occurs in an unpleasant place or it occurs for an extended period), social outcomes are generally negative - others in the situation seem less attractive or people act more hostile.

SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL - individuals subjected to high density often respond by withdrawing from social interaction.

HUMOR - humor appreciation may be enhanced in high density settings either by contagion effect or by tension release.

THEORIES OF CROWDING

ANTECEDENTS – what triggers crowding?

1. PERSONAL - Most crowding theories acknowledge that individual differences play a role in crowding.

2. SOCIAL - A leading cause of crowding is too many others around.

3. PHYSICAL - resource shortage is emphasized as a key element of crowding. Physical resources can mean crayons in preschool, tools in a shop, computers in an office, or books in a classroom.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES – how does crowding affect us psychologically?

Personal Control – overall ability of self to control the situation is limited or non-existent when experiencing crowding. There are 3 forms of personal control:

Cognitive control – information about situation imparts a sense of cognitive control.

Behavioral control –ability (or lack of it) to act toward a goal.

Decisional control – amount of choice available in a setting.

If we are able to attain one or more of these forms of personal control, crowding stress will be reduced.

CONSEQUENCES – what are the consequences of crowding?

1. Physiological Consequences - Inescapable high density, such that experienced in an overpopulated prison, can lead to heightened blood pressure, illness, and other biochemical changes.

- Even the ultimate physiological consequence, death, is strongly correlated with population density in a psychiatric facility.

2. Behavioural Consequences - Heightened physiological activity means that even in everyday settings, people walk faster when density is higher.

- Another consequence of crowding is the development of learned helplessness. The personal control approach predicts that a persistent lack of control teaches individuals that attempting to cope is fruitless.

3. Cognitive Consequences - The Overload approach postulates that crowded individuals simply filter out some aspects of life around them.

- Stanley Milgram suggested that the reason city dwellers sometimes walk past persons who are collapsed on the street is not because they are less kind, but because they are forced to rank-order their social priorities to manage the extremely heavy amount of stimulation they face each day.