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"Crowding Into the Behavioral Sink"
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Transcript
"Crowding Into the Behavioral Sink"
Summary
- The researcher wanted to explore the effects of high density on social behavior.
- Mature rats were put inside a 10 by 14 foot room that was divided into four sections.
- Each section contained 12 rats, food and water, and material for the rats to build nests.
- Researches allowed a double in population and continued to observe the rat's behavior for 16 months.
Ella DeSantis
Researchers & Hypothesis
- Researcher was John Calhoun, whose inspiration for the study came from a previous one in which he created an environment for rats without predators or diseases. Surprisingly, the rat population only expanded to 150 after 27 months.
- Calhoun's hypothesis was that rats who lived in low density population will result in much greater mortality rate than rats who lived within a high density population.
Results
Why It Matters
- Rats in section 1 and 4 consisted of about 8-12 females and 1 male.
- The rest of the rats stayed in section 3 and 4 and exhibited the "behavioral sink" effect. This consisted of various behaviors such as aggression, submissiveness, sexual deviance, and reproductive abnormalities.
- Rats in sections 1 and 4 had a 50% infant mortality rate. However, in sections 2 and 3, the infant mortality rate raised to 80-96%.
- Animal behavior after domestication undergoes a genetic change to share commonalities with humans, so researches believed the same symptoms would occur with human test subjects.
- Other studies on high density showed that overcrowded prisons have a higher rate of mortality, homicide, suicide, and illness.
- Various studies have also tested different motor skills in crowded spaces and have proved that there is increased blood pressure and heart rate in comparison to open space.
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