Physical aggression after being crowded

Subjects were given an opportunity to aggress using a Buss machine either immediately or 30 minutes after competing or cooperating on a task in a crowded or uncrowded situation. It was found that for subjects who were allowed to aggress immediately, crowding reduced aggression under the competitive set but had no effect under the cooperative set. This effect of crowding was not found with the delay subjects. The results of this study are consistent with the findings of other studies that social withdrawal rather than aggression may occur in response to aversively dense conditions. The lack of crowding effect after a 30-minute delay suggests that the effect of the laboratory crowding experience is transient in nature and best generalized to short-term crowding experiences such as those encountered on elevators and buses.