A Japanese Perspective on Crowding: How Well Have the Japanese Adjusted to High Density?

M. Homma
Psychologia, 1990, vol. 33, pp. 128-137

At the present time, Japan faces many problems related to crowding or high density; shortage of housing, limited space, traffic jams, and urban problems. However, a number of scholars working in different fields have suggested that the Japanese tolerate high density because they have developed coping strategies to deal with crowding. This paper will review these strategies and relate them to the multidensity model of crowding (Paulus, 1980). This model will be used to analyze Japanese adjustment to high density. It is concluded that the Japanese view crowding as a negative experience. The increasingly high levels of density and recent cultural or social changes have inhibited the effectiveness of various coping strategies. There is a need for definitive research on the extent to which the Japanese experience a variety of negative consequences due to crowding.

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Commuting Stress?

Wednesday, 4 March 2009
From QoWL Helper

Almost whenever we get to chat to representatives of a client organisation we can guarantee that the issues that will get the most moans and groans from everyone in the room are 'parking' or 'travelling to work'.

When examined across all our data sets parking and travelling to work seem to have little effect on the average experience of quality of working life. However when we look at individuals these issues can have a major impact.

In almost all of our surveys where people are able to comment in an open question, parking or commuting comments are in the top 10 most mentioned issues and if the overall impression is negative, people's comments often show they are hopping mad about it!

Why should people be particularly upset about such peripheral aspects of a job?

Well, there are a number of reasons, but the best explanation appears to be related to the idea first suggested by Herzberg that there are certain elements of job satisfaction called Hygiene factors where the minimum level you expect is for them to be good. Such Hygiene factors are usually to do with access to the basic resources you need to do your job. For an office worker this might be having the email system up and working, but even extends to whether you are allowed to make personal phone calls at work. Perhaps counter-intuitively having such factors at a better than average level does not seem to improve QoWL by very much, but having them at a less than average level seriously reduces QoWL!

In addition to building more car parks and improving the roads generally, there are many ways organisations and individuals attempt to overcome problems with Parking & Commuting.

Flexi-time is a time honoured method for staggering travel and parking times, quite often commuting just one hour later or earlier can make all the difference. Allowing staff to stagger their start and end times can also have good effects on general home-work interface issues as well, such as not having to rush to drop the kids off at the start of the day.

Car pooling or car sharing potentially helps both travel times and parking issues, but can be frustrating and cause a perceived loss of control if someone wants to leave early and the other person does not!

If you really cannot change anything practically it might be that thinking about the problem in a different way, perhaps by trying to see the advantages of the situation (e.g. Getting fit by having to walk the last half a mile to work). Tony Cassidy has talked about this and other psychological approaches to dealing with commuting-related stress.

Finally, one of the reasons people feel free to voice a negative opinion about issues such as parking or travelling to work is that they are a shared gripe, and they won't be embarrassed moaning about it even to the big boss.

Selected Research Articles
# Herzberg, F. (1966). Work and the Nature of Man. Cleveland: World Press. 4 (2) 15-21.

# Cassidy, T.(1992). Commuting-related Stress: Consequences and Implications. Employee Counselling Today. 4 (2) 15-21.

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Possible Implications Of Daily Commute And Mosquito-borne Diseases

ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2009) — University of Hawaii at Manoa assistant researcher Durrell Kapan recently published a paper in PLoS ONE highlighting how daily commuting patterns in mega-cities may be a critically overlooked factor in understanding the resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, infecting 50-100 million people annually.

Even a small number of infected people who remain active can move a virus such as dengue between different parts of the community, where it will be picked up by mosquitos and, after an incubation period, be passed on to another unsuspecting passerby," says Kapan. "Our research examined whether the standard practice of eliminating mosquito vectors at residences would be sufficient to control dengue if other areas in the community still had several large patches of mosquitos that could become infected by commuters."

To undertake this study, Kapan teamed up with mathematician Ben Adams from the University of Bath (UK), with support of UH Mānoa's Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Center of Biomedical Research Excellence program, and as participating faculty in UH Mānoa's National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Research Traineeship (IGERT) in Ecology, Conservation and Pathogen Biology.

"Our primary objective with this paper is to prompt researchers, public health practitioners and others concerned with vector control to look beyond the traditional epidemiological definition of a transmission cluster based on home address, and consider novel ways to control community transmission of vector-borne diseases that account for great morbidity and mortality worldwide," says Kapan. "Even a short visit to an infected patch of mosquitos, say at a lunch venue or open market, may be enough to keep the virus circulating."

Adds Adams, "When someone gets infected we need to look at their recent travel patterns to figure out from which group of mosquitoes they got the disease, and to which groups they may have passed it on."

Kapan works on this and other transdisciplinary research focused on applied evolution, ecology and insect genomics at the Center for Conservation and Research Training (CCRT), a research and training arm of the UH Mānoa Pacific Biosciences Research Center.

Read the full paper here:
Ben Adams, Durrell D. Kapan. Man Bites Mosquito: Understanding the Contribution of Human Movement to Vector-Borne Disease Dynamics. PLoS ONE, 2009; 4(8): e6763 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006763

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Commuting stress and noise

Source

Research shows that a large increase in background noise at a constant, steady level is experienced as less intrusive as time passes; although prolonged exposure produces lasting elevations in blood pressure.1 If the noise is not only loud, but also intermittent, then people remain conscious of their heightened irritability even after an extended period of adaptation; and their symptoms of central nervous system distress become more pronounced.1

In a laboratory, subjects exposed to a loud, intermittent, and unpredictable noise experience not only showed physiological symptoms of stress but also behavioural symptoms. These subjects became less persistent in their attempts to cope with frustrating tasks, and suffered measurable impairments in performing tasks requiring care and attention.1

In another ingenious experiment, the Psychologist David Glass and his collaborators exposed two groups of subjects to a recording of loud, unpredictable noises. And, whereas subjects in one group had no control over the recording, subjects in the other group could stop the tape at any time simply by flipping a switch. These subjects were told, however, that the researchers would prefer that they not stop the tape, and indeed most of them honoured this preference. Following exposure to the noise, subjects with access to the control switch made almost 60 percent fewer errors than the other subjects on a proofreading task, and made more than four times as many attempts to solve a difficult puzzle.1

Similarly, commuting though heavy traffic is in many ways very stressful, and much more like exposure to loud, unpredictable noises than to constant background noise. Delays are difficult to predict, virtually impossible to control, and one never quite gets used to being cut up by other drivers who believe that their time is more valuable than anyone else’s. Thus, a large amount of scientific literature documents the many stress symptoms that result from protracted driving through heavy traffic.

One theme in this body of knowledge focuses on the experiences of Bus drivers, whose exposure to the stresses of heavy traffic is higher than that of most other road users, but who have also had greater opportunities to adapt to those stresses. Compared to workers in other occupations, a disproportionate share of the absenteeism experienced by Bus drivers stems from stress-related illnesses such as gastrointestinal problems, headaches, and anxiety.2 Many studies have found sharply elevated rates of hypertension among city Bus drivers relative to a variety of control groups, including, in one instance, Bus drivers themselves during their pre-employment physical examinations.3,4 And, additional studies have found elevations of stress hormones such as Adrenaline, Noradrenalin, and Cortisol in town Bus drivers.4 One study even found elevations of Adrenaline and Noradrenalin to be strongly positively correlated with the density of the traffic with which the Bus drivers had to contend.5 And, more than half of all urban Bus drivers retire prematurely with some form of medical disability.6

Your daily commute through heavy traffic is presumably less stressful than operating a bus all day in a busy town. And probably much less stressful than meeting an attractive member of the opposite sex somewhere. Yet, there is no question that the differences are one of degree rather than kind. Studies have shown that the demands of commuting through heavy traffic often result in emotional and behavioural deficits on arrival at home or at work.7 Compared to drivers who commute through low-density traffic, those who commute through heavy traffic are more likely to report feelings of annoyance.8 And at higher levels of commuting distance, time, speed, and months of commuting are significantly positively correlated with increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure.8

This prolonged experience of commuting stress also suppresses immune function and shortens longevity.9,8 Even spells in traffic as brief as fifteen minutes have been linked to significant elevations of blood glucose and cholesterol, and to declines in blood coagulation time (all factors that are positively associated with heart disease). Commuting by car is also linked positively with the incidence of various cancers, especially cancer of the lung, although this is probably because of higher exposure to exhaust fumes.10 Among people who commute to work, the incidence of these and other illnesses rises with the length of commute,10 and is significantly lower amongst those who commute by bus or rail,11 and lower still amongst non-commuters.12

In conclusion, there appears to be persistent and significant costs associated with long commutes through heavy traffic. And we can also be confident that Neurophysiologists would find higher levels of Cortisol, Norepinephrine, Adrenaline, Noradrenalin, and other stress hormones in a seducer who is in a situation that they feel they have no control over. Of course, nobody has done the experiment to discover whether poorly skilled seducers would report lower levels of life satisfaction than the rest of the population. But, because we know that drivers often report being consciously aware of the frustration and stress they experience during commuting, it is a plausible conjecture that subjective well-being, as conventionally measured, would be lower in those seducers. However, even if the negative effects of stress never broke through into conscious awareness, we would still have powerful reasons for wishing to escape them.

References:

1. Glass, D.C., J. Singer & J. Pennebaker, ‘Behavioral and Psychological Effects of Uncontrollable Environmental Events’ (1977) in Perspectives on Environment and Behavior, ed. D. Stokols, New York: Plenum
2. Long, L. & J. Perry, ‘Economic and Occupational Causes of Transit Operator Absenteeism: A Review of Research’ (1985) Transport Review 5:247-267
3. Ragland, D.R., M. Winkleby, J. Schwalbe, B.L. Holman, L. Morse, L. Syme & J.M. Fisher, ‘Prevalence of Hypertension in Bus Drivers’ (1987) International Journal of Epidemiology, 16:208-214; Pikus, W.G. & W.A. Tarranikova, ‘The Frequency of Hypertensive Disease Among Drivers in Public Transportation’ (1975) Terapevischeskii Archives, 47:135-137
4. Evans, G.W., M.N. Palsane & S. Carrère, ‘Type A Behaviour and Occupational Stress: A Cross-cultural Study of Blue-collar Workers” (1987) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52:1002-1007
5. Evans, G.W. & S. Carrère, ‘Traffic Congestion, Perceived Control, and Psychophysiological Stress Among Urban Bus Drivers’ (1991) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76:658-663
6. Evans, G.W., ‘Working on the hot seat: Urban Bus Operators’ (1994) Accident Analysis and Prevention, 26:181-193
7. Glass, D.C., & J. Singer, ‘Urban Stressors: Experiments on Noise and Social Stressors’ (1972) New York: Academic Press; Sherrod, D.R., ‘Crowding, Perceived Control, and Behavioral Aftereffects’ (1974) Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 4:171-186
8. Stokols, D., R.W. Novaco, J. Stokols & J. Campbell, ‘Traffic congestion, Type A Behaviour, and Stress’ (1978) Journal of Applied Psychology, 63:467–480
9. DeLongis A., S. Folkman, R.S. Lazarus, ‘The impact of Daily Stress on Health and Mood: Psychological and Social Resources as Mediators’ (1988) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54:486-495
10. Koslowsky, M., A.N. Kluger & M. Reich, ‘Commuting Stress‘ (1995) New York: Plenum
11. Taylor, P.J. & S.J. Pocock, ‘Commuter Travel and Sickness Absence of London Office Workers’ (1972) British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 26:165-172; Koslowsky, M. & M. Krausz, ‘On the Relationship Between Commuting, Stress Symptoms, and attitudinal Measures’ (1993) Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 29:485-492
12. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, ‘The Journey from Home to the Workplace: The Impact on the Safety and Health of the Commuters/Workers’ (1984) Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

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Effects to mediate crowding on train's physical structure.

PO ENV 9: XXIII INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Madrid, July 17-22, 1994
HOMMA, Michiko; Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan.

One of the urban environmental problem is various phenomena occured (or caused) by crowded congestion. In Tokyo, the problem is particularly serious in many aspects. Crowds on commuting trains in the morning and evening rush hours shows this phenomenon.

Recently, the new model train for commuters have been developed seats were fold up in the carriages to provide more room for the commuters during the rush hours to relieve the congestion and to carry as many passengers as possible. However, we suspected whether such a train is effective or not. Because some researchers indicated that the social structure in order mediate feel crowding. Then,it's physical structure is hinder to construct the ordering arrangement of person.

Therefore,on a hypothesis that this new system doesn't seem to help to increase physical density and rather increase the passengers stress and crowding, we conducted quasi-experiment on manipulating 2 independent variables on differences of density and the differences of type the train. Subjects for this study were commuting trains running Yamanote-Line and their perceived density,perceived crowding and heart rate were measured.

As the result, the hypothesis was substantiated. This experiment has proved that this new model carriages for passengers could be obstacle to its proceedings of social structure.

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How to reduce stress while commuting

Aug 20th, 2009

Do you get out of your car with a queasy stomach, a headache and your blood pressure registering through the roof? If you do, that energy vulture called stress may have sent your pulse skyrocketing. In a study conducted at the University of California at Irvine, researchers found that the stress of commuting takes a major toll on health. According to the study, it has direct physiological effects of raising blood pressure and releasing stress hormones into the body. Not only that, long commutes (more than 18 miles one way) may also increase the likelihood of having a heart attack due to exposure to high levels of air pollutants, which appears to be a risk factor for heart disease.

Although there is no antidote to stressful commuting, there are lots of ways to shoo off the energy vulture. Here is how to thrive while you drive.

1. Prepare in advance
One of the best ways to lessen the strain of road rage is to prepare everything the night before. Clothes, documents, attache cases, and even packed lunches should be set the day before to avoid the morning rush. With everything champing at the bit, you would save plenty of time to do your morning routines, devour a good breakfast and enjoy special moments with the family. Best of all, you can dash out the highway free of traffic congestion.

2. Sleep well and wake up early
A good night's sleep rejuvenates the body. Make it a habit to have enough sleep and to rise early. If you are already stressed out the day before, an incomplete repose takes over cumulative stress effects into your life at work and at home. Your frustration levels at work eventually rises, your brainpower falters, and your mood at home sours. You have no energy left for enjoying life.

3. Juggle your work hours
Why pack the freeways with all the other "9-to-5"-ers when you can try a ten-to-six or an eight-to-four shift? Depending on your company's work policy, try to check out other shifts that fit your lifestyle. Choose one that would help you get rid of energy-depleting stress and allow you to lighten your highway woes.

4. Share your ride
It may be a hassle to coordinate your arrival and departure with another person or two, but carpooling is worth it. Studies show that ridesharing lowers commuter stress significantly. With carpooling, there is less air and noise pollution, less traffic congestion, and you can relax more while someone else does the driving.

5. "Cocoon" in your car
Instead of getting worked up when traffic is at a standstill, utilize your time wisely. Listen to the radio or pop in some music tapes to take your mind off the stop-and-go driving and traffic tie-ups. If you like to read but just cannot have time to flip pages of a book, check out books on cassette. Many libraries have full-length books on tape as well as abridged versions. You can even learn a new language or do some car exercises like shoulder rolls, neck extensions and tummy tucks to help you stay awake and relax.

6. Pillow your back and squirm
When you are standing, the lumbar area of your spine (the lower portion) normally curves inward, toward your abdomen. However, when you are sitting, it tends to slump outward squeezing your spinal disks and putting stress on them. Sometimes, it helps to support your back by tucking a rolled towel or a pillow in that lumbar section. In cases of longer drives, since sitting in one position for longer than 15 minutes gradually stiffens you even with a back pillow, make necessary adjustments for a comfy ride. For instance, you can try putting most of your weight on one buttock and then the other. Then, shift the position of your seat or your buttocks slightly. You may even try sliding down in your seat and sit up again for fun.

7. Work out after work
Since the evening rush is worse than the morning rush because of the compounded fatigue from the workday, it is best to wait out the traffic. Work out at a gym near your office or take meditation classes to relieve your stress. If you plan to go to dinner, see a movie or go shopping, try to do these things near work, delaying your departure enough to miss the maddening rush.

8. Give yourself a break
It may be a good idea to give yourself some days off from work. Many companies today offer compressed working hours or longer working days to give way to work-free days for you to unwind.

9. Move your office
If your job is a long drive ahead every day, inquire at work if the company would allow you to work at home some days of the week or if you can work near your place. An alternative work schedule would make you feel less tense and in control thereby reducing stress.

10. Occasionally change your routine
An occasional change of commuting habits may be advisable too. Try walking or bicycling sometimes for a change. There is nothing like a good walk to ease tension especially when it means you do not have to get in your car and fight rush hour traffic.

By lessening the stress of getting to work, you are conserving enormous amounts of energy that may be lost over stressful commuting. It does not only leave you a lot more energy to do your job and become more productive but it also makes you feel good and gives you a good reason to always start your day right.

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More commuting news

Nine steps to dealing with commuter stress
Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
Friday 20 April 2007The Guardian

Whether gridlocked in traffic, crammed on to public transport in unbearable heat or forced to sit next to someone with poor hygiene, most of us have experienced downsides to our commute. But now a study has revealed the secrets to avoiding commuter hell.

The findings, presented yesterday by researchers from Nottingham Trent University at the 1st Applied Positive Psychology Conference in Warwick, found travellers used up to nine types of coping strategies to avoid becoming victims of commuting stress.

Effective methods included singing or talking to oneself, doing laptop work, reading, making plans for after work, and "oral gratification" - which includes chewing gum. Talking to other commuters, admiring attractive fellow travellers, and making journeys outside rush hour where possible were also popular.

In contrast, some methods which had little success included venting anger at other commuters, smoking, or drinking alcohol on public transport.

The study, Resilience and Positive Coping as Protection from Commuting-Related Stressors and Strain, was carried out by researchers Glenn Williams and Rowena Hill from the university's school of social sciences. It found those individuals with high levels of resilience to stress were most likely to have the inner-strength to master their commuting environment.

The study included a variety of transport modes - notably car, bus, train, tube, bicycle and foot. About 14% of those who took part were found to have low levels of tolerance and so using simple coping techniques was likely to have little effect.

Worst problems highlighted by commuters included insufficient room, loud music, delays, and personal odours. Others highlighted smelly foods, terror alerts, unreasonable employers, lack of facilities for people with disabilities, and being molested.

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Coping with the daily grind
By David Millward
Published: 12:01AM GMT 15 Feb 2006

The first nationwide study into the daily stress faced by commuters is being carried out by researchers at Nottingham Trent University.

The team, led by Glenn Williams, senior lecturer in psychology, is trying to ascertain how Britons cope with the daily grind of getting to and from work.

Official figures show that Britons are commuting longer distances than in the past, in many cases by road adding to congestion.

"Previous research has shown that commuting often brings about the same physical responses in us than if we were going into battle," said Dr Williams. "We want to see how commuting affects people's physical and emotional well being.

"Most importantly, we are interested in finding out the secrets to a relatively stress-free commute - is it found through going in your own car, walking or public transport?

"We want to capture the diversity of the nation's commuting experiences to provide the authoritative guide on what works to help commuters cope with the stress of getting to and from work."

The study will also take into account how Londoners' reaction to commuting has been chaged by the July tube bombings.

It is recognised that commuting can be stressful at the best of time, especially during the rush hour peaks when space on buses, trains and roads is at a premium.

It has even led to the the production of a beat travelling stress CD by Ashok Gupta, director of the Harley Street Stress Management Clinic.

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