Crowding into the Behavioral Sink
In this research crowding into the behavioral sink the researcher that performed this experiment was John Calhoun. John Calhoun performed this experiment because he wanted to “explore the effects of high density population on social behavior.”(Calhoun, 1962, pg248) So John Calhoun hypothesis was that the rats that lived in the less populated area would have more death than the rats that are living in the high population.
John Calhoun performed an experiment in crowding into the behavioral sink with white rats. These adult rats were then placed in 10 by 14 foot laboratory area where they split the 10 by 14 room up into four sections. They had a glass window on top of the laboratory room so they can absorbed the rats and see how they react by living in close quarters.
During this experiment John Calhoun wanted to observe how people reacted being close to each other in a highly populated area. But he could not perform this experiment with actual people due to it being inhumane so he use lab rats instead. In order for John Calhoun to observe the rat’s reaction he made a laboratory room for the rats to live in for 16 months. John Calhoun split the room up into four quarters where the rats can travel from one room to the other. But the rats only have one way to get into the other room. In room one and room two there is only one way to get in and out. Where room three and four there are two ways to get in and out because they are in the middle of room one and four. John Calhoun then had the walls running with electricity so the rats would not climb over the wall that they had to go through the designated pathway. In each of these rooms there was water and food for the rats to eat and drink. They were given supplies for the female rats to build their nest for their offspring’s. John Calhoun built the room to hold 48 rats and he allowed to breed so their numbers would double to simulate the crowding of a populated space. So the rat’s population ended up growing to 80 and any more baby rats that survived where removed to keep the population at a constant 80. John Calhoun found that the rats reacted different and where all in their own different categories. Those categories are Aggression, Submissiveness, Sexual deviance and Reproductive abnormalities. In aggression category they found that the male rats fought each other to gain dominance. In room one and four the two most dominant rats were the only one that lived in those room. They would sleep by the stair way so no other males would mate with the females that was living in those rooms. In the submissiveness category, these rats where the most healthy looking and did not look for dominance. They just stayed stay to themselves and went their own way. In the sexual deviance category where the male rats pursue the female rats but instead of waiting for them to exit their nest they will go and fallow them into the nest. In the reproductive abnormalities category the female rat’s eventually stopped making the indention in the middle of the nest for their offspring’s. Eventually they stopped bringing scraps to build their nest and having their baby’s on the sawdust floor. In the article “The Impact of Density: The Importance of Nonlinearity and selection on Flight and Fight Response” by Wendy Regoeczi said “In the United States city crime rates are higher than suburban rates, which in turn are higher than suburban rates.” Between this article and the research done by Calhoun they both have a connection between high populated population and crimes. In Calhoun case there was rats that would show dominance and would claim the sections they were living in.
This research finding that John Calhoun found in this experiment is important to understand the human behaviors in today society. You can use this information to understand why certain people act the way they do when they are in an unfamiliar place or in a place where there is a lot of people that are around. By understanding this, when people go and seek professional help the person is going to have a better understanding of the problem.
The connection between Crowding into the behavioral Sink and the Psychology book is that the book mentions “Even so, instinct approaches have faded away because, although they could describe human behavior, they could not explain it. But these approaches did accomplish one important thing by forcing psychologist to realize that some human behavior is controlled by hereditary factors.”(Saundra K, Ciccarelli J, Noland White 2014, pg345) By this connection it’s hard to really understand how the brain fully works. Where you can explain part of the finding but you cannot truly explain the other half.
I can use the information from this research when I join the police force knowing that in a higher population the people that are living there will act different than a small town. There will be more crime that are being created like Calhoun saw in his experiment. There were rats fighting each other for dominance and in a highly populated city there are gangs that are fighting each other to gain the dominance of the other gang and claim their turf. Where in a less populated area there will be little crime that is being committed. I can use that information from Calhoun research by looking at the population density and it will give me a general idea of how much crime that might be committed.
Work Cited page
Roger Hock (2013). Forty Studies That Change Psychology Explorations into the History of Psychological Research. NJ: Pearson Education
Saundra K, Ciccarelli J, Noland White (2014). Psychology: Special Edition for Delta Psychology. NJ: Prentice Hall
Wendy Regoeczi, (2002). The Importance of Nonlinearity and Selection of Flight and Fight Repose
In this research crowding into the behavioral sink the researcher that performed this experiment was John Calhoun. John Calhoun performed this experiment because he wanted to “explore the effects of high density population on social behavior.”(Calhoun, 1962, pg248) So John Calhoun hypothesis was that the rats that lived in the less populated area would have more death than the rats that are living in the high population.
John Calhoun performed an experiment in crowding into the behavioral sink with white rats. These adult rats were then placed in 10 by 14 foot laboratory area where they split the 10 by 14 room up into four sections. They had a glass window on top of the laboratory room so they can absorbed the rats and see how they react by living in close quarters.
During this experiment John Calhoun wanted to observe how people reacted being close to each other in a highly populated area. But he could not perform this experiment with actual people due to it being inhumane so he use lab rats instead. In order for John Calhoun to observe the rat’s reaction he made a laboratory room for the rats to live in for 16 months. John Calhoun split the room up into four quarters where the rats can travel from one room to the other. But the rats only have one way to get into the other room. In room one and room two there is only one way to get in and out. Where room three and four there are two ways to get in and out because they are in the middle of room one and four. John Calhoun then had the walls running with electricity so the rats would not climb over the wall that they had to go through the designated pathway. In each of these rooms there was water and food for the rats to eat and drink. They were given supplies for the female rats to build their nest for their offspring’s. John Calhoun built the room to hold 48 rats and he allowed to breed so their numbers would double to simulate the crowding of a populated space. So the rat’s population ended up growing to 80 and any more baby rats that survived where removed to keep the population at a constant 80. John Calhoun found that the rats reacted different and where all in their own different categories. Those categories are Aggression, Submissiveness, Sexual deviance and Reproductive abnormalities. In aggression category they found that the male rats fought each other to gain dominance. In room one and four the two most dominant rats were the only one that lived in those room. They would sleep by the stair way so no other males would mate with the females that was living in those rooms. In the submissiveness category, these rats where the most healthy looking and did not look for dominance. They just stayed stay to themselves and went their own way. In the sexual deviance category where the male rats pursue the female rats but instead of waiting for them to exit their nest they will go and fallow them into the nest. In the reproductive abnormalities category the female rat’s eventually stopped making the indention in the middle of the nest for their offspring’s. Eventually they stopped bringing scraps to build their nest and having their baby’s on the sawdust floor. In the article “The Impact of Density: The Importance of Nonlinearity and selection on Flight and Fight Response” by Wendy Regoeczi said “In the United States city crime rates are higher than suburban rates, which in turn are higher than suburban rates.” Between this article and the research done by Calhoun they both have a connection between high populated population and crimes. In Calhoun case there was rats that would show dominance and would claim the sections they were living in.
This research finding that John Calhoun found in this experiment is important to understand the human behaviors in today society. You can use this information to understand why certain people act the way they do when they are in an unfamiliar place or in a place where there is a lot of people that are around. By understanding this, when people go and seek professional help the person is going to have a better understanding of the problem.
The connection between Crowding into the behavioral Sink and the Psychology book is that the book mentions “Even so, instinct approaches have faded away because, although they could describe human behavior, they could not explain it. But these approaches did accomplish one important thing by forcing psychologist to realize that some human behavior is controlled by hereditary factors.”(Saundra K, Ciccarelli J, Noland White 2014, pg345) By this connection it’s hard to really understand how the brain fully works. Where you can explain part of the finding but you cannot truly explain the other half.
I can use the information from this research when I join the police force knowing that in a higher population the people that are living there will act different than a small town. There will be more crime that are being created like Calhoun saw in his experiment. There were rats fighting each other for dominance and in a highly populated city there are gangs that are fighting each other to gain the dominance of the other gang and claim their turf. Where in a less populated area there will be little crime that is being committed. I can use that information from Calhoun research by looking at the population density and it will give me a general idea of how much crime that might be committed.
Work Cited page
Roger Hock (2013). Forty Studies That Change Psychology Explorations into the History of Psychological Research. NJ: Pearson Education
Saundra K, Ciccarelli J, Noland White (2014). Psychology: Special Edition for Delta Psychology. NJ: Prentice Hall
Wendy Regoeczi, (2002). The Importance of Nonlinearity and Selection of Flight and Fight Repose