Desire for Control and the Perception of Crowding

The role that individual differences in the general desire to control events play in the perception of crowding was examined. Male undergraduates worked on tasks requiring a great deal of movement in a small room with either two or five other subjects. It was found that subjects scoring high on a measure of general desire for control reported higher levels of discomfort and perceived the room as more crowded that did subjects scoring low on desire for control at both levels of density. The results are interpreted in support of the hypothesis that perceptions of crowding result from a perception that one's control over the situation has been restricted.