Density and Crowding Reading Answers

Dec 13, 2022

Density and Crowding Reading Answers has 13 questions that need to be answered in 20 minutes. Density and Crowding Reading Answers consist of three types of questions; matching the heading, and completing the summary. Candidates need to skim the passage for keywords, understand the concept, and answer based on the given instructions. For matching the heading, candidates are required to match the given options with the paragraphs presented in the paragraph. Candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Density and Crowding Reading Answers

Density and Crowding

Of the great myriad of problems which man and the world face today, there are three significant fiends which stand above all others in importance: the uprecedented population growth throughout the world a net increase of 1,400,000 people per week and all of its associations and consequences; the increasing urbanization of these people, so that more and more of them are rushing into cities and urban areas of the world; and the tremendous explosion of communication and social contact throughout the world, so that every part of the world is now aware of every other part. All of these fiends are producing increased crowding and the perception of crowding.

Density and Crowding

It is important to emphasize at the outset that crowding and density are not necessarily the same. Density is the number of individuals per unit area or unit space. It is a simple physical measurement. Crowding is a product of density, communication, contact, and activity. It implies a pressure, a force, and a psychological reaction. It may occur at widely different densities.

The frontiersman may have felt crowded when someone built a homestead a mile away. The suburbanite may feel relatively uncrowded in a small house on a half-acre lot if it is surrounded by trees, bushes, and a hedgerow, even though he lives under much higher physical density than did the frontiersman. Hence, crowding is very much a psychological and ecological phenomenon, and not just a physical condition.

A classic crowding study was done by Calhoun (1962), who put rats into a physical environment designed to accommodate 50 rats and provided enough food, water, and nesting materials for the number of rats in the environment. The rat population peaked at 80, providing a look at ramped living conditions. Although the rats experienced no resource limitations other than space restriction, a number of negative conditions developed: the two most dominant males took harems of several female rats and occupied more than their share of space, leaving other rats even more crowded; many females stopped building nests and abandoned their infant rats; the pregnancy rate declined; infant and adult mortality rates increased; more aggressive and physical attacks occurred; sexual variation increased, including hypersexuality, inhibited sexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.

Calhoun’s results have led to other research on crowding’s effects on human beings, and these research findings have suggested that high density is not the single cause of negative effects on humans. When crowding is defined only in terms of spatial density (the amount of space per person), the effects of crowding are variable. However, if crowding is defined in terms of social density, or the number of people who must interact, then crowding better predicts negative psychological and physical effects.

There are several reasons why crowding makes US feel uncomfortable. One reason is related to stimulus overload there are just too many stimuli competing for our attention. We cannot notice or respond to all of them. This feeling is typical of the harried mother, who has several children competing for her attention, while she is on the phone and the doorbell is ringing. This leaves her feeling confused, fatigued and yearning to withdraw from the situation. There are strong feelings of a lack of privacy – being unable to pay attention to what you want without being repeatedly interrupted or observed by others.

Density and Crowding

Field studies done in a variety of settings illustrate that social density is associated with negative effects on human beings. In prison studies, males generally became more aggressive with increases in density. In male prison, inmate; living in conditions of higher densities were more likely to suffer from fight. Males rated themselves as more aggressive in small rooms (a situation of high spatial density), whilst the females rated themselves as more aggressive in large rooms (Stokols et al., 1973). These differences relate to the different personal space requirements of the genders.

Besides, Baum and Greenberg found that high density leads to decreased attraction, both physical attraction and liking towards others and it appears to have gender differences in the impact that density has on attraction levels, with males experiencing a more extreme reaction. Also, the greater the density is, the less the helping behavior. One reason why the level of helping behavior may be reduced in crowded situations links to the concept of diffusion of responsibility. The more people that are present in a situation that requires help, the less often help is given. This may be due to the fact that people diffuse responsibility among themselves with no-one feeling that they ought to be the one to help.

Facing all these problems, what are we going to do with them? The more control a person has over the crowded environment the less negatively they experience it, thus the perceived crowding is less (Schmidt and Keating). The ability to cope with crowding is also influenced by the relationship the individual has with the other people in the situation. The high density will be interpreted less negatively if the individual experiences it with people he likes. One of the main coping strategies employed to limit the impact of high density is social withdrawal. This includes behaviors such as averting the gaze and using negative body language to attempt to block any potential intrusions.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Questions 1-7:
Reading passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A -G from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

Other experiments following Calhoun’s experiment offer a clearer indication
The effects of crowding on people in the social scope
Psychological reaction to crowding
Problems that result in crowding
Responsibility does not work
What cause the upset feel of crowding
Definitions of crowding and density
Advice for crowded work environment
Difference between male and females’ attractiveness in a crowd
Nature and results of Calboun’s experiment

Question 1- Paragraph A

Answer: (iv) Problems that result in crowding
Supporting Sentence: As per reports the population is increasing rapidly adding 14, 00,000 people per week into the populations, increasing urban migration,
Keyword: urban, 14,00,000
Keyword Location: paragraph A
Explanation: The rapid growing population is associated with urbanization forcing people to migrate to urban cities. Along with the sudden growth of the communication sector have made every person aware about the business of the world. These, giving rise to problems related to crowding.

Question 2- Paragraph B

Answer: (vii) Definitions of crowding and density
Supporting Sentence: In the second paragraph the writer suggests the difference between density and crowding.
Keyword: density, crowding
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: According to the writer, density is related to the physical aspect only. Mathematically to be expressed as persons per unit area. On the other hand, crowding is the net result of density, advancement in communication technology etc. On the other hand, crowding is more psychological and ecological. As the writer describes, crowding may occur at different densities.

Question 3- Paragraph C

Answer: (x) Nature and results of Calboun’s experiment
Supporting Sentence: Calboun draws the result of the experiment where he has put rats in a living condition which can accommodate only 50 rats and has observed their behavior upon crowding.
Keyword: rats, Calboun, accommodate
Keyword Location: Paragraph C
Explanation: Calboun puts rats in a living condition which can accommodate only 50 rats, upon providing adequate resources the population of rats peaked at 80. After space contraction rate became dominant and noticed sex variations too.

Question 4- Paragraph D

Answer: (i) other experiments following Calhoun’s experiment offering a clearer indication
Supporting Sentence: Upon making the experiment of Calbound as base many other scientists carried out experiments to study the change in behavior of humans because of crowding.
Keyword: crowdin
Keyword Location: paragraph D
Explanation: Other scientists have too studied the behavior of humans upon crowding. Provided, they have clearly demarcated the difference between crowding and density. Density is only confined to spatial restraint while crowding is more of a psychological and ecological phenomenon.

Question 5- Paragraph E

Answer: (vi) What cause the upset feel of crowding
Supporting Sentence: In this paragraph the author has tried to draw the attention on reasons why someone feels uncomfortable in crowding.
Keyword: uncomfortable
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: Crowding makes us uncomfortable because there are competing stimuli which are watching us ending our privacy. The author tries to compare this situation with a mother of several children. She is on the phone and all of her children are craving for attention and when there is other work to be done by the mother, she starts feeling fatigued.

Question 6- Paragraph F

Answer: (ii) the effects of crowding on people in the social scope
Supporting Sentence: This paragraph suggests a variety of effects of crowding on human behavior.
Keyword: crowding
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: The ground studies have shown that males become more aggressive with increase in density. For example in prison upon increasing inmates the male member becomes aggressive in contrast to women who become aggressive upon decreasing density. Baum and Greenberg report that with increase in densities male people lose physical attraction and also become less responsible.

Question 7- Paragraph G

Answer: (viii) Advice for crowded work environment
Supporting Sentence: In the conclusive paragraph the author cites two solutions namely to limit with the people he likes and social withdrawal.
Keyword: social withdrawal
Keyword Location: Paragraph G
Explanation: The author suggests that to reduce the negative effect of high density one should be limited with the person he likes. According to the study it is suggested that negative is reduced in such circumstances. He also suggests social withdrawal that is to react violently upon privacy intrusion.

Questions 8-13:

Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

Question 8- Being disturbed repeatedly, the harried mother feels frustrated for the lack of_________

Answer: privacy
Supporting Sentence: The mother of several children upon increasing the responsibility feels frustrated and also feels lack of privacy.
Keyword: mother, privacy
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: In paragraph E the author mentions; crowding makes us uncomfortable because there are competing stimuli which are watching us ending our privacy. The author tries to compare this situation with a mother of several children. She is on the phone and all of her children are craving for attention and when there is other work to be done by the mother, she starts feeling fatigued.

Question 9 - Inmates in high density settings were more aggressive in_________

Answer: Male prison
Supporting Sentence: upon increasing the density the male prisoners became aggressive.
Keyword: male prison, aggressive.
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: The author mentions the other behavior changes of increasing density and finds that male prisoners are aggressive when put in with the increasing inmates. On the other hand women became aggressive when the spatial conditions were increased i.e., density decreased.

Question 10 The different result between male and female is associated with the varying need of_________

Answer: personal space
Supporting Sentence: personal space is related to different requirements of genders.
Keyword: personal space, gender
Keyword Location: paragraph F
Explanation: In the experiment male prisoners showed aggressive traits upon increasing density while women found themselves comfortable in a small room.

Question 11 Especially for male, Baum and Greenberg found that_________

Answer: Attraction declined with high density
Supporting Sentence: Physical liking decreases with increasing density and male show an extreme trait.
Keyword: extreme, physical liking
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, line 9
Explanation: With increasing density physical liking decreases, and author writes that this has also reduced in responsible behavior.

Question 12 The idea of responsibility diffusion may explain a person’s reluctant to_________declined with high density.

Answer: help
Supporting Sentence: Diffusion of responsibility restricts people from helping others.
Keyword: diffusion, responsibility, help
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: With increasing density physical liking decreases and also makes people less responsible because of diffusion of responsibility. This behavior manifests in a way that people hesitate to lend hands for help.

Question 13 Schmidt and Keating suggest that if more______ was present there would be a reduction in crowding stress.

Answer: Control
Supporting Sentence: Schmidt and Keating suggest control on crowding environments so that less negative impact can be observed of crowding.
Keyword: control, negative
Keyword Location: paragraph G
Explanation: The conclusive paragraph suggests that control in the crowding population can reduce the negative impact of crowding.

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