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IELTS Reading Passage – Density and Crowding
Density and Crowding
Three significant threats stand out among other challenges that men and the globe confront in the present day: The extraordinary global population explosion of a net gain of 1,400,000 people every week, as well as all of its repercussions, is unparalleled; The rising urbanisation of these people, as a result of which a growing number of them are flooding into cities and metropolitan regions throughout the world, is a significant issue; and every portion of the world is now acquainted with every other part due to the incredible growth of communication and interpersonal contact around the globe. All of these enemies contribute to increasing congestion and the sense of increased crowding.
It is essential to indicate at the commencement that crowding and density are not always synonymous.The density of a population is the number of people per unit area or unit capacity. It’s a straightforward physical measurement. Crowding is a result of population congestion, interaction, physical touch, and activity. It indicates force, intensity, and psychological response. It can exist in a variety of densities.When a farm was built one mile away, the frontiersman may have experienced a crowd. The suburbanite may suspect comparatively uncrowded in a modest house on a quarter plot if it is encircled by trees, shrubs, and a hedgerow, although living in a considerably more densely populated area than the frontiersman. Consequently, crowding is not merely a physical circumstance, but also a psychosocial and ecological one.
Calhoun (1962) conducted famous research on overcrowding by placing rats in a physical setting built for 50 rats and supplying enough food, drink, and nesting resources for the number of rats in the habitat. The rat population reached an all-time high of eighty, revealing extreme living circumstances. Despite the fact that the rats had no resource limits other than space limitations, a number of undesirable situations occurred: The two most dominant male rats acquired harems of many female rats and occupied more territory than their fair share, leaving the other rodents even more congested; Many female rats ceased nesting and abandoned their infants; The conception rate decreased; child and adult death rates rose; there were more violent and physical assaults; sexual diversity, including hypersexuality, repressed sensuality, homosexuals, and bisexuality, grew.
The outcomes of Calhoun’s investigation have spawned other studies on the impacts of crowding on people, and these findings imply that high population density is not the sole cause of detrimental consequences for humans. When crowding is characterised only in terms of geographic density (the quantity of territory per individual), its consequences vary. Nevertheless, if crowding is defined in terms of social density, or the number of individuals who must communicate, then crowding more accurately predicts detrimental psychological and physiological repercussions.
There are various reasons behind why overcrowding causes discomfort in the United States. One cause is input overload: there are simply quite so many contending cues for our concentration. We cannot observe or answer each one. This is a normal experience for a mother with many children vying for her attention when she is talking on the cell phone and the doorbell rings. This causes her to experience confusion and exhaustion, and want to retreat from the circumstance. Strong sentiments of a lack of privacy exist, such as the inability to focus on one’s own activities without being continuously interrupted or viewed by others.
Studies conducted in a number of environments demonstrate that social density has detrimental consequences on humans. In jail research, guys became typically more violent as population density increased. In male prisons with larger population densities, convicts were much more likely to engage in violent behaviour. Males discern themselves as being more antagonistic in tiny spaces (high spatial density), whereas females regarded themselves as more aggressive in huge rooms (Stokols et al., 1973). These distinctions pertain to the differing personal privacy needs of the genders.In addition, Baum and Greenberg discovered that high population density decreases attraction, both physical attraction and liking for others and that the influence of population density on attraction levels seems to vary by gender, with men having a more dramatic response. Additionally, the larger the density, the less helpful behaviour. In crowded environments, the amount of helpful behaviour may be diminished due to the idea of responsibility dispersal. The more individuals involved in a situation requiring support, the less frequent assistance is provided. This may be because of the fact that individuals distribute responsibility among themselves, with no one feeling compelled to assist.
What are we going to do with all these issues? The more power an individual has over a crowded situation, the less adversely they view it, resulting in a diminished perception of congestion (Schmidt and Keating). The relationship a person has with the other persons in a crowded setting also affects his or her capacity to deal with congestion. The individual’s perception of the dense population will be less unfavourable if he encounters it with individuals he likes. Social disengagement is one of the primary coping techniques used to mitigate the effects of excessive population density. This involves behaviours such as avoiding sight and employing negative body language to deter possible invasions.
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Density and Crowding IELTS Reading Questions
Questions 1-4
Complete the sentences below.Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers 1-4 on your answer sheet.
- Being continually interrupted, the overworked mother is irritated by the lack of ___________.
- In ________, inmates in high-density environments were more hostile.
- The difference in outcome between males and females is attributable to their distinct ________ requirements.
- Schmidt and Keating indicate that crowding stress would be reduced if there were more ________.
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Questions 5-8
Answer the question from Yes/ No or Not Given.
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
5. Especially for male, Baum and Greenberg found that attraction increased with high density.
6. The concept of responsibility dispersal may explain an individual’s unwillingness to help.
7. Social density is only associated with a community’s negative effects on human beings.
8. Males perceive themselves to be more aggressive in larger rooms.
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Questions 9-13
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs from A-E from the given list. Write the correct letter, and answer 5-9 on your answer sheet.List of headings:
| Definitions of crowding and density The effects of crowding on people in the social scopeOther experiments following Calhoun’s experiment offering a clearer indication What cause the upset feel of crowdingProblems that result in crowdingNature and results of Calboun’s experiment |
9. Paragraph A
10. Paragraph B
11. Paragraph C
12. Paragraph D
13. Paragraph E
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Density and Crowding Reading Answers
1. Privacy
2. Male prisons
3. Personal privacy
4. Attraction
5. No
6. Yes
7. Not Given
8. Not Given
9. V
10. I
11. VI
12. III
13. IV
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