A Cultural Comparison of Perceived Crowding and Discomfort: The United States and West Germany

Summary In an attempt to compare the effects of interpersonal distance, number of people, acquaintance level, and sex on perceived crowding and discomfort between two cultures, those of the United States and West Germany, 90 eighth and ninth graders were shown diagrams of simulated crowding situations. Results indicated that the distance to other people is of more importance than the number of people, acquaintance level is of more importance in the German culture than in the American, and that at large distances Germans tend to feel more comfortable than Americans when they have more people around them.