The effects of social, spatial, and interference density on performance and mood

The present experiment independently manipulated three components considered important aspects of crowding. In a 2 × 2 × 2 design, 192 white male American undergraduates were assigned to either a high- or low-social-density, high- or low-spatial-density, or high- or low-interference-density condition. Ss were given an opportunity to perform a box-building task in addition to a cognitive task. Various measures of mood were also collected during the study. Results indicated that interference density did affect both task performance and mood either alone or in combination with the other measures of density.