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Blake Garner
Maureen Donegan
Psychology 211
21 April 2015
Crowding Into the Behavioral Sink
In 1962 American behavioral researcher John B. Calhoun conducted a laboratory
observation testing the effects of population density and social crowding. Population density is
the number of individuals in a given amount of space and crowding is the experience caused by
density. According to author Saundra Ciccarelli, stress is the physical, emotional, cognitive, and
behavioral responses to situations that seem to be challenging or threatening (2012). Famous
psychologist John B. Watson introduced the science of behavior which is also known as
behaviorism. Watson believed that the only way to refocus on psychology was to resort to
observational behaviorism (Ciccarelli 2012). Calhoun was also interested on human behavior and
wanted to know whether the stress of social interaction could alter behavior.
Calhoun conducted a series of 3 tests with about 40 rats. He placed them into a laboratory
room that was 10ft x 14ft wide that had a glass ceiling used for observation (Hock 2013). The
room was divided into four sections. Section 1 had a path to section 2, section 2 had a path to
section 3, and section 3 had a path to section 4. The rats could not cross between section 4 and
section 1, these were the end sections (Hock 2013). Within the sections there were pens for
nesting, containers filled with food and water, and lots of materials to build nests. Calhoun
allowed his rates to multiply until there was about 80 living within the sections; he observed the
rats under these conditions for 16 months.

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Normally, this number of rats would be able to live comfortably in the four sections
allowing 20 rats in each section. However, the males would battle for social status and the most
dominant males would win over the two end sections (sections 1 and 4) that only had one way in
and out of them. These dominant rats would guard their pen and only allow a select group of
females in. This lead to an overpopulation of sections 2 and 3. Behavior in sections 1 and 4 was
fairly normal while behavior in sections 2 and 3 showed a lot of abnormalities. After observing
the over population in the middle sections Calhoun came up with the phenomenon which he
called the behavioral sink (Ramsden 2009). Calhoun observed 4 extreme pathological
behaviors including: reproductive abnormalities, sexual deviants, submissiveness, and
aggression. Aggression was observed between male rats who were fighting for dominant social
position. Submissiveness was portrayed by the healthiest looking rats in the sections because
they avoided fighting, avoided sexual activity, and were mostly avoided by all the other rats.
Some rats were sexual deviants and were very hypersexual and voided natural mating rituals and
were not interested in status. Lastly, some rats were sexual deviants but were pansexual who
would try to mate with any rat (males, females, and juveniles) and were also not interested in
status. Due to the overcrowded sections, females experienced reproductive abnormalities. The
females lost interest in building sufficient nests, lost ability to transport their young, and they
were also chased by groups of males until they were unable to escape; this lead to many
complications in both pregnancy and delivery (Hock 2013).
Calhoun did not conclude anything from his findings because he found them to be selfexplanatory. However, Calhoun was quoted saying:
That the natural social and survival behaviors of the rats were severely altered by the
stresses associated with living in a high-population-density environment. In addition, he

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noted that through additional research, with improved methods and refined interpretation
of the findings, his studies and others like them may contribute to our understanding of
similar issues facing human beings (Hock 2013)
His research findings were important and can be applied to human behavior in real life.
One prime example would be a study done by The National Institute of Justice who found higher
rates of illness, mortality, suicide, homicide, and other problems in prisons that were very
crowded (Hock 2013). A more recent event occurred at this years Skyscraper competition where
New York Citys continuously increasing population was being discussed. In the article
Calhouns experiment was brought up and the life style of New Yorkers was compared to that of
the rats. Psychologist Jonathan Freedman who was cited in this article did his own experiments
and concluded that crowding experiments with people found that a range of social and
psychological variables, such as an individuals desired level of privacy, ability to control a
situation, or their social role, could cause stress and feeling of crowding (LaCasse 2015).
You can personally use these research findings to live a better and more informed life.
Having a better understanding about social crowdedness and how it can affect your behavior can
be very helpful, especially if you live a similar lifestyle to a New Yorker. Some argue that
humans will die out by lack of water and famine, however, Calhoun believes that humans will
eventually just run out of space (Wiles 2011). Every time I see a new building going up or every
time I see more grass turn into pavement, I think about what will happen when we eventually run
out of space. Reading about how Calhouns mice acted out with aggression, became submissive,
or became sexual deviants is weird to think about. What if eventually humans turn to hose
behaviors as a result of overpopulation?

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Work Cited
Calhoun, J. (1970). Population Density and Social Pathology. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
Ciccarelli, S. (2012).Psychology. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Hock, R. (2013). Forty Studies That Changed Psychology. (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ:Pearson/Prentice Hall.
LaCasse, A. (2015). Should We Pack Everybody into A Giant Skyscraper? Retrieved April 21,
2015.
Ramsden, E. (2009). The Urban Animal: Population Density and Social Pathology in Rodents
and Humans. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
Wiles, W. (2011). The Behavioral Sink. Retrieved April 21, 2015.