Crowding and Psychological Stress - Essay Example

Virtually all systems (for example, the heart and blood vessels, the immune system, the lungs, the digestive sys tem, the sensory organs, and brain) are modified to meet the perceived danger" (Sanberg 982) Wright notices that stress "is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome". (Wright 358) Crowding is mentioned to be acute stress. Acute stress is immediate reaction of organism to danger or threat which is also known as "fight or flight response".

This category also includes such psychological stresses as noise, isolation, hunger, infection and imaginary threat. All these kinds of stress, including crowding has psychological effect, because they act on the subconscious level and they are really dangerous for people's mentality. (Yao 859) Crowding is a potential source of psychological stress and one more area of interest. It is unpleasant feeling of people when there is a crowd (too many people) around them and it is unpleasant when there is too little available space.

But it doesn't mean that crowding refers to density ("an objective measure of the number of people per unit"). (Sandberg 983) In density situations there are people who fell crowded and there are people who don't. . But it doesn't mean that crowding refers to density ("an objective measure of the number of people per unit"). (Sandberg 983) In density situations there are people who fell crowded and there are people who don't. The problem of crowding is dealing with the influences of the environment on people's behavior.

It is a matter of fact that crowding has direct emotional and behavioral affect on humans and it is only a psychological phenomenon.It is a common knowledge that many human consider crowding as negative or unfavorable situation. It is commonly suggested (without proof) that in most cases crowding is the source of aggression, crime or violence. Some environmental psychologists admitted that there were positive relations between crowding and bad social conditions as violence or crime. (984)It can be stated that with the increase of crowding and density there will be the increase in death-rate, crime rate and mental disorders.

But Sanberg argued that when social factors are considered (economic level, educational level, and ethnicity) then correlation between crowding negative situations disappears. Therefore it is necessary to say that the problem of crowding is not so simple and easy as it may seem for the first time. This issue is more complex and contradictiveIn researches it is pointed out that density increases with performance. But humans fell less crowded with their relatives and friends. It is also stated that "someone with a large personal space need would feel crowded sooner than someone with a small personal space need." (986) Also sex differences (women and men) lead to different perception of crowding.

For example, men were reported to have more stresses in case of crowding.Cognitive