Globalisation in the 21st century
The Psychology Sessions: Modern trends in Psychology
Can density and overcrowding lead to violence?
The inspiration for this article was last week's traffic jam in Athens, Greece because of various strikes, and a specific incident, which took place inside a packed metro car between a middle-aged woman and an old man. They were fighting over a seat!!!
During the incident, I, just, realised that our hectic lifestyle together with various socio-cultural issues such as overcrowding, and personal problems can trigger uncontrolled verbal or physical violence.
Lately, there has been a sudden wave of violence across Europe and the USA, which, in my opinion, is the result of unsuccessful social policies applied by governments all over the world. Crucial issues such as immigration, religious or political differences, unemployment, financial difficulties, density and overpopulation are, simply, making people not being able to stand each other, especially, if you have to enter an overcrowded area e.g. a beach.
During the 1990s, high density and overcrowding became of the most important global social problems, since it was clear that, usually, individual behaviours result in social tensions. Besides higher crime rates, traffic jams, and long supermarket lines, high density offers many benefits (Seamon and Kenrick, 1994):- Being part of the streaming crowds, e.g. on a New York street, diverse with foreign visitors, street musicians, finely dressed urbanites, and bands of teenagers, may be more energizing and entertaining that stressful.
- According to Bell et al. (1990), environmental psychologists, often, distinguish between density (the number of people in a given spatial area) and crowding (the psychological experience of spatial restrictions).
- the irrational mob is, often, paralleled in the impulsive and unreasoned behaviour of city dwellers.
- this type of behaviour is due in part t to the nervous strain of great cities.
- the borbardment of the senses by innumerable impressions tends to produce neurasthenia (similar to anxiety disorder, in contemporary terminology).
- sports can train individuals to inhibit their impulses
- country life can inspire more reasonable and cautious behaviour.
- people living in cities lose sight of 'the unyielding laws of nature'.
Case study (Seamon and Kenrick, 1994)
The behavioural sink by John Calhoun (1962)
Probably the best-known research in this area is John Calhoun's work on population density and social pathology in rats. Calhoun used a self-made apparatus for subjecting rats to an overcrowded enuironment. The apparatus was divided into four pens: The two end pens had only one entrance and fairly normal social arrangements. Those in the two central pens suffered unusual levels of density, and developed hyperaggressive, antisocial, and deviant sexual behaviours. To be more specific: Calhoun placed 32 adult rats in a 10' x 14' room divided into four separate pens. Instead of stabilizing at four colonies of 12 animals, as expected, the number of rats went up to 80 in a year. At that point, Calhun began removing surplus infants in order to observe the effects of a population density held at double what the animals would have endured in the outdoor pen.
Under these circumstances, two dominant males staked out territories in the end pens, where they maintained harems of 8 to10 females. These arrangements were similar to the social arrangements that would have developed in the wild. However, the remaining 60 animals, crammed into the two central pens, developed a group syndrome that Calhoun (1962) named the behavioural sink: a pattern of antisocial behaviour associated with high-density living. Any female in heat would be relentlessly harassed by packs of males, some of which would follow females into their nests, where they would occasionally find dead offspring. Indeed, these males tended to become cannibalistic. As for the top males, they would engage in frequent free-for-all fights, whereas the less dominant males would occasionally lose control and attack females and juveniles.
Amazed by the results of his experiment, Calhoun realised that the social pathology of the behavioral sink is a natural consequence of crowding, which can stand for human beings as well. Likewise, people can become hyperaggressive and sexually deviant under crowded conditions.
Under these circumstances, two dominant males staked out territories in the end pens, where they maintained harems of 8 to10 females. These arrangements were similar to the social arrangements that would have developed in the wild. However, the remaining 60 animals, crammed into the two central pens, developed a group syndrome that Calhoun (1962) named the behavioural sink: a pattern of antisocial behaviour associated with high-density living. Any female in heat would be relentlessly harassed by packs of males, some of which would follow females into their nests, where they would occasionally find dead offspring. Indeed, these males tended to become cannibalistic. As for the top males, they would engage in frequent free-for-all fights, whereas the less dominant males would occasionally lose control and attack females and juveniles.
Amazed by the results of his experiment, Calhoun realised that the social pathology of the behavioral sink is a natural consequence of crowding, which can stand for human beings as well. Likewise, people can become hyperaggressive and sexually deviant under crowded conditions.
Further, it is obvious that the residents of large cities face a much higher likelihood of being the victims of violent crime than do the residents of rural areas. It is fairly suggested that certain factors in high-density cities can lead to anti-social behaviour: when people are crowded in, they become aggressive and begin to compete. According to Zimbardo (1970), people living in cities are more anonymous, and thus less likely to be held accountable for antisocial acts. However, controversy reigns among psychologists about whether life in the city directly contributes to antisocial behaviour, because city density does not have a simple relationship to antisocial behaviour, but large cities do have more crime (Seamon and Kenrick, 1994).
Research studies from the 1970s to 2016 have shown that living in the city is associated not only with an increase in cruel and aggressive behaviour, but, also, with a decrease in human kindness: A sad example is the violent riots that stormed Los Angeles in late April/early May 1992. Therefore, people living in large cities are more reluctant to give money to a needy beggar, or, even, help people in need. Fischer (1984), clearly, points out that as a consequence of the increased aggression and the decreased likelihood of being helped, city residents worry more about being victimised.
Incidentally, laboratory studies of crowding suffer their own limitations (Evans and Lepore, 1992): the process that unfolds in laboratory experiments may not be valid representations of what happens in the real world. However, it is interesting to say that the combination of laboratory experiments and correlations do allow researchers to better understand people's reactions to crowding, and to conclude that the two key-solutions to the issue of overcrowding and its negative effects is increasing social support networks, and prevention. Additionally, Bell (1990) suggested that simply installing visual barriers can reduse the stress of crowding. Nowadays, although Bell's idea was taken seriously, the problem, still, remains.
Concluding, according to Eurostat in 2011, lifecycle has remained a powerful determinant of overcrowding. Eastern Europeans aged under 18 are on average 2.5 times more likely to experience overcrowding than those aged over 65. Affordability problems of young adults, who had to delay home leaving, contributed to unrelenting overcrowding, but so did the legacy of a housing stock composed of many small dwellings. In the EU post-communist states, between 51-87% of dwellings had no more than three rooms (https://en.wikipedia.org).
Research studies from the 1970s to 2016 have shown that living in the city is associated not only with an increase in cruel and aggressive behaviour, but, also, with a decrease in human kindness: A sad example is the violent riots that stormed Los Angeles in late April/early May 1992. Therefore, people living in large cities are more reluctant to give money to a needy beggar, or, even, help people in need. Fischer (1984), clearly, points out that as a consequence of the increased aggression and the decreased likelihood of being helped, city residents worry more about being victimised.
Incidentally, laboratory studies of crowding suffer their own limitations (Evans and Lepore, 1992): the process that unfolds in laboratory experiments may not be valid representations of what happens in the real world. However, it is interesting to say that the combination of laboratory experiments and correlations do allow researchers to better understand people's reactions to crowding, and to conclude that the two key-solutions to the issue of overcrowding and its negative effects is increasing social support networks, and prevention. Additionally, Bell (1990) suggested that simply installing visual barriers can reduse the stress of crowding. Nowadays, although Bell's idea was taken seriously, the problem, still, remains.
Concluding, according to Eurostat in 2011, lifecycle has remained a powerful determinant of overcrowding. Eastern Europeans aged under 18 are on average 2.5 times more likely to experience overcrowding than those aged over 65. Affordability problems of young adults, who had to delay home leaving, contributed to unrelenting overcrowding, but so did the legacy of a housing stock composed of many small dwellings. In the EU post-communist states, between 51-87% of dwellings had no more than three rooms (https://en.wikipedia.org).
References
John G. Seamon and Douglas T. Kenrick (1994), Psychology, 2nd edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
https://en.wikipedia.org.
Picture Source Links
https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2008/07_25_2008/story1.htm,
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/o/overcrowding.asp,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3171029/Wish-weren-t-British-tourists-pack-Benidorm-beaches-record-numbers-head-Spain-wake-Tunisia-terror-attacks.html.
http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/overcrowding-in-suburbs-causes-anti-immigration.html.
Tim Voridis
Organisational Psychologist/Consultant - Communication and Personality Specialist
'Innovation for a brighter future'.
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