The experience of crowding: a two-factor theory

It was proposed that the experience of crowding occurs in a two-step process: First, the individual becomes aroused by violations of his personal space, and then he attributes the cause of this arousal to other people in his environment. Based on this model it was predicted that violations of personal space rather than simple density is the spatial variable associated with crowding. Further, it was predicted that the experience of crowding can be alleviated if the individual is distracted from making the attribution that his arousal is caused by other people. In order to test these prediction, interaction distance (close and far) and density (high and low) were varied separately. In addition, for half of the conditions, pictures (attribution inhibitors) were placed on the walls of the experimental room, and in the other half, the walls were bare. Subjects worked on two tasks and were then questioned about their experience of crowding. The results showed that interaction distance was more closely related to crowding than was density and that the addition of pictures reduced the experience of crowding only in the close interaction conditions. The results were interpreted as supporting the attribution analysis of crowding.