Individual differences in the perception of crowding

From a consideration of social overload theory it was hypothesized that personality variables concerned with the perception of and the reaction to social stimulation are related to an individual's susceptibility to crowding. Predicted relationships were observed for affiliation and arousal seeking as these variables were positively correlated with the number of figures that subjects placed in a model room until they perceived the room to be crowded. These relationships are discussed as a function of both sex and the subject's perception of the nature of the social situation.