The meaning and efficacy of social withdrawal as a strategy for coping with chronic residential crowding

Two studies examined whether the previously documented coping strategy of s ocial withdrawal in response to chronic crowding is related to changes in s ocial information processing. In both studies we found evidence that indivi duals residing in crowded homes in comparison to uncrowded homes were less cognizant of personal information about strangers in an incidental encounte r under naturalistic, uncrowded conditions as well as under highly crowded conditions, occurring in the laboratory. Furthermore, we show in the experi mental study that interference with this social withdrawal process has sign ificant effects on social information processing. In study 2 we also demons trate that social withdrawal in response to acute crowding is an effective coping strategy for reducing short-term stress for those who have learned t o employ this strategy while living under chronically crowded conditions. A ll of these results occur independently of income levels. (C) 2000 Academic Press.