A number of recent studies of the effects of high densities on people have suggested that it is not density per se that results in perceptions of crowding and negative social and affective responses. Rather these responses are related to the experience of excessive social encounters and exposure to more social information than a person can handle cogni-tively (e.g., Baum & Koman, 1976; Langer & Saegert, 1977; Saegert, Mackintosh, & West, 1975). These experiences are characterized by the term social overload.