Escaping the Laboratory: The Rodent Experiments of John B. Calhoun & Their Cultural Influence

Abstract

In John B. Calhoun's early crowding experiments, rats were supplied with everything they neededexcept space. The result was a population boom, followed by such severe psychological disruption that the animals died off to extinction. The take-home message was that crowding resulted in pathological behaviorin rats and by extension in humans. For those pessimistic about Earth's "carrying capacity," the macabre spectacle of this "behavioral sink" was a compelling symbol of the problems awaiting overpopulation. Calhoun's work enjoyed considerable popular success. But cultural influence can run both ways. In this paper, we look at how the cultural impact of Calhoun's experiments resulted in a simplified, popular version of his work coming to overshadow the more nuanced and positive message he wanted to spread, and how his professional reputation was affected by this popular "success."

The role of biological and economic factors in urban population growth

“…Calhoun's work aroused a large resonance in scientific world and inspired many scientists to research the problem of overcrowding from different aspects, including the challenges of living in large, densely populated cities and ways of dealing with these pressures [14]. Following Calhoun's research, Jonathan Freedman began the first laboratory studies of crowding among human beings at Stanford University in the late 1960s [15].…”

“…There are two opposite views on this problem: one point of view is that these results cannot be applied to human beings, because humans are a social species and, therefore, a high concentration of individuals within one area might not have a negative effect on their behaviour [8]. In other words, unlike rates in Calhoun's experiment, people are able to cope with overpopulation [14].…”

Contesting the “territorial aggression thesis” in environmental psychology, ca. 1965–1980

“…In Calhoun's experiments, overt aggression and even cannibalism occurred despite unlimited amounts of available food. The message was interpreted as if crowding resulted in pathological behavior, by extension also in humans, and Calhoun's “behavioral sink” became a symbol of the overpopulation problem (Ramsden & Adams, , pp. 761–763).…”

“…In some historically oriented introductions written by environmental psychologists, the connection to ethology and its impact on the defense and demarcation perspective of human territoriality have been mentioned (Bonnes & Secchiaroli, 1995;Brown, 1987). Territoriality and crowding being closely connected both in ethological and environmental psychological theories, Ramsden's and Adam's work on the reception of John B. Calhoun's crowding experiments among environmental psychologists are of special relevance (Ramsden, 2011;Ramsden & Adams, 2009). I will begin the article by considering the role of the research on human territoriality in the emerging field of environmental psychology.…”

The Power of Micro Urban Structures, Theory of EEPGC - the Micro Urban Energy Distribution Model as a Planning Tool for Sustainable City Development

“…Natural human scale decentralised urbanisation rising along with the potential clean energy available at the place will surely give a different perspective to human quality of life in comparison with overpopulated multicultural mega-urban structures dealing daily with tons of problems and struggling for survival. Centralisation got a certain level where it reaches its peak and then it is simply dying out because it could not face the tons of problems, just like the rat community in previously mentioned famous, but many time forgotten John Calhoun´s 28 months experiment in the 60´s [5]. Human race keeps on building centralised systems not only in architecture, but there is still a turning point where they realised that they can't manage it anymore.…”