TheBiology and Psychology of Crowding in Man and Animals
A
Of thegreat myriad of problems which man and world face today, there are threesignificant trends which stand above all others in importance: theunprecedented population growth throughout the world — a net increase of1,400,000 people per week —and all of its associations and consequences; theincreasing urbanisation of these people，so that more and more of them arerushing into cities and urban areas of the world; and the tremendous explosionof communication and social contact throughout the world, so that every part ofthe world is now aware of every other pan. All of these trends are producingincreased crowding and the perception of crowding.
B
It isimportant to emphasise at the outset that crowding and density are notnecessarily the same. Density is the number of individuals per unit area orunit space. It is a simple physical measurement. Crowding is a product ofdensity, communication, contact, and activity. It implies a pressure, a force,and a psychological reaction. It may occur at widely different densities. Thefrontiersman may have felt crowded when someone built a homestead a mile away.The suburbanite may feel relatively uncrowded in a small house on a half-acrelot if it is surrounded by trees, bushes and a hedgerow, even though he livesunder much higher physical density than did the frontiersman. Hence, crowdingis very much a psychological and ecological phenomenon, and not just a physicalcondition.
C
Aclassic crowding study was done by Calhoun 54，who put rats into a physicalenvironment designed to accommodate 50 rats and provided enough food, water,and nesting materials for the number of rats in the environment. The ratpopulation peaked at 80, providing a look at cramped living conditions.Although the rats experienced no resource limitations other than spacerestriction, a number of negative conditions developed: the two most dominantmales took harems of several female rats and occupied more than their share ofspace, leaving other rats even more crowded, many females stopped buildingnests and abandoned their infant rats; the pregnancy rate declined; infant andadult mortality rates increased; more aggressive and physical attacks occurred;sexual variation increased, including hyper-sexuality, inhibited sexuality,homosexuality, and bisexuality.
D
Calhoun'sresults have led to other research on crowding’s effects on human beings, andthese research findings have suggested that high density is not the singlecause of negative effects on humans. When crowding is defined only in terms ofspatial density (the amount of space per person), the effects of crowding arevariable. However, if crowding is defined in terms of social density, or thenumber of people who must interact, then crowding better predicts negativepsychological and physical effects.
E
Thereare several reasons why crowding makes us feel uncomfortable. One reason isrelated to stimulus overload — there are just too many stimuli competing forour attention. We cannot notice or respond to all of them. This feeling istypical of the hurried mother, who has several children competing for herattention, while she is on the phone and the doorbell is ringing. This leavesher feeling confused, fatigued and yearning to withdraw from the situation.There are strong feelings of a lack of privacy — being unable to pay attentionto what you want without being repeatedly interrupted or observed by others.
F
Fieldstudies done in a variety of settings illustrate that social density isassociated with negative effects on human beings. In prison studies, malesgenerally became more aggressive with increases in density. In male prison,inmates living in conditions of higher densities were more likely to sufferfrom fight. Males rated themselves as more aggressive in small rooms (asituation of high spatial density), whilst the females rated themselves as moreaggressive in large rooms (Stokols et al. 1973). These differences relate tothe different personal space requirements of the genders. Besides, Baum andGreenberg found that high density leads to decreased attraction, both physicalattraction and liking towards others and it appears to have gender differencesin the impact that density has on attraction levels, with males experiencing amore extreme reaction. Also, the greater the density is, the less the helpingbehaviour. One reason why the level of helping behaviour may be reduced incrowded situations links to the concept of diffusion of responsibility. Themore people that are present in a situation that requires help, the less oftenhelp is given. This may be due to the fact that people diffuse responsibilityamong themselves with no-one feeling that they ought to be the one to help.
G
Facingall these problems, what are we going to do with them? The more control aperson has over the crowded environment the less negatively they experience itthus the perceived crowding is less (Schmidt and Keating). The ability to copewith crowding is also influenced by the relationship the individual has withthe other people in the situation. The high density will be interpreted lessnegatively if the individual experiences it with people he likes. One of themain coping strategies employed to limit the impact of high density is socialwithdrawal. This includes behaviours such as averting the gaze and usingnegative body language to attempt to block and potential intrusions.
ReadingPassage 3 has nine paragraphs, A-G.
Choosethe correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Writethe correct number, I -XI, in boxes on your answer sheet.
List ofHeadings
I Thedifference between crowding and density
II Theeffects of crowding in different situations on human beings
III Theterrible results of the crowding study
IV Theeffective solutions to the crowding problem
V Thereasons of increasing crowding
VI Thebest strategy to cope with the crowding problem一social withdrawal VII Differentdefinitions of crowding and their effects on human beings
VI Theonly reason why people feel bad
IX Thereasons why crowding affects people's feelings
X Threemost important trends that people may face today
XI Whatis crowding
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
10 Paragraph F
20 Paragraph G
Completethe sentences below.
ChooseNO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 3 for each answer.
Writeyour answers in boxes on your answer sheet.
Calhoun'sstudy about rats shows that they may become aggressive despite no
21、When the definition of crowding concerns with _______， or interaction, it may affects people both psychologically and physically.
22、Crowding makes people feel insufficient_______，because people cannot do what they
23、That males are more aggressive in small rooms and females are moreaggressive in large rooms shows the different ______ of genders.
24、High density may reduce helping behaviour due to the ______.
25、 People feel less crowding if they can ______ more over the situation.
26、 The most effective way to reduce the effect of high density on humanbeings is ______.
