Ninety primary school students in a city in northern India, an equal number of boys and girls, participated in a simulation task in which they placed small figures in a model classroom that they were told to make, in counterbalanced order, crowded or non-crowded. The students, 30 from each of three age groups (6-7, 9-10 and 12-13), also rated conditions in their classroom and their home. Analyses revealed consistent age effects, such as that younger children were more likely to place the figure representing them farther from the front of the simulated classroom, and, with regard to their actual classroom, to think there were too many children. In terms of gender, boys, compared to girls, generally placed the figure representing them more centrally in the simulated classroom, although this difference disappeared when the simulated classroom was crowded.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ahrentzen, S., & Evans, G.W. (1984). Distraction, privacy, and classroom design. Environment and Behavior, 16, 437-454.
2.
Aiello, J.R. (1987). Human spatial behavior. In D. Stokols, & Altman, I. (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 395-444). New York: Wiley.
3.
Aiello, J.R., Baum, A., & Gormley, F.P. (1981). Social determinants of residential crowding stress . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 643-649.
4.
Aiello, J.R., Thompson, D.E., & Baum, A. (1985). Children, crowding, and control: Effects of environmental stress on social behavior. In J.F. Wohlwill , & W. van Vliet (Eds.), Habitats for children: The impacts of density. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
5.
Baxter, J. (1970). Interpersonal spacing in natural settings. Sociometry, 33, 444-456.
6.
Booth, A., & Edwards, J.N. (1976). Crowding and family relations. American Sociological Review, 41, 308-321.
7.
Booth, A., & Johnson, D. (1975). The effect of crowding on child health and development . American Behavioral Scientist, 18, 736-750.
8.
Cohen, S., Evans, G.W., Krantz, D.S., & Stokols, D. (1980). Physiological, motivational, and cognitive effects of aircraft noise on children. American Psychologist, 35, 231-243.
9.
Desor, J.A. (1972). Toward a psychological theory of crowding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21, 79-83.
10.
Epstein, Y.M., & Karlin, R.A. (1975). Effects of acute experimental crowding. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5, 34-53.
11.
Evans, G.W. (1978). Crowding and the developmental process. In A. Baum, & Y. Epstein (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 571-610). New York: Wiley.
12.
Freedman, J.L., Levy, A.S., Buchanan, R.W., & Price, J. (1972). Crowding and human aggressiveness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 8, 528-548.
13.
GovE, W.R., & Hughes, M. (1983). Overcrowding in the household: An analysis of determinants and effects. New York, NY: Academic Press.
14.
Hartnett, J.J., Bailey, K.G., & Gibson, F.W. (1970). Personal space as influenced by sex and type of movement. Journal of Psychology, 76, 139-144.
15.
Hayduk, L.A. (1983). Personal space: Where we now stand. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 293-335.
16.
Lerner, R.N., Iwawaki, S., & Chihara, T. (1976). Development of personal space among Japanese children . Developmental Psychology, 12, 466-467.
17.
Liebman, M. (1970). The effects of sex and race norms on personal space. Environment and Behavior, 2, 208-246.
18.
Lomranz, J., Shapira, A., Choresh, N., & Gilat, Y. (1975). Children's personal space as a function of age and sex. Developmental Psychology, 11, 541-545.
19.
Loo, C.M. (1972). The effects of spatial density on the social behavior of children. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 372-381.
20.
Marshall, J.G., & Heslin, R. (1975). Boys and girls together: Sexual composition and the effect of density and group size on cohesiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 952-961.
21.
Nagar, D., & Pandey, J. (1987). Affect and performance on cognitive tasks as a function of crowding and noise. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17, 147-157.
22.
Nagar, D., Pandey, J., & Paulus, P.B. (1988). The effects of residential crowding experience on reactivity to laboratory crowding and noise. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 1423-1442.
23.
Paulus, P., Cox, V., McCAIN, G., & Chandler, J. (1975). Some effects of crowding in a prison environment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 5, 86-91.
24.
Rodin, J. (1976). Density, perceived choice, and response to controllable and uncontrollable outcomes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 564-578.
25.
Ross, M., Layton, B., Erickson, B., & Schopler, J. (1973). Affect, facial regard, and reactions to crowding . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 69-76.
26.
Ruback, R.B., & Carr, T.S. (1984). Crowding in a women's prison: Attitudinal and behavioral effects. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 57-68.
27.
Ruback, R.B., & Pandey, J. (1991). Crowding, perceived control, and relative power: An analysis of households in India. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 315-344.
28.
Ruback, R.B., & Pandey, J. (1996). Gender differences in perceptions of household crowding: Stress, affiliation, and role obligations in rural India. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 417-436.
29.
Sinha, S.P., Nayyar, P., & Mukherjee, N. (1995). Perception of crowding among children and adolescents . Journal of Social Psychology, 135, 263-268.
30.
Sommer, R. (1969). Personal space: The behavioral basis of design . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
31.
Stokols, D., Rall, M., Pinner, B., & Schopler, J. (1973). Physical, social, and personal determinants of the perception of crowding. Environment and Behavior, 5, 87-115.
32.
Willis, F.N. (1966). Initial speaking distance as a function of the speakers' relationship. Psychonomic Science, 5, 221-222.
33.
Worchel, S., & Teddlie, C. (1976). The experience of crowding: A two-factor theory . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 30-40.
