TY - JOUR
T1 - The crowded life is a slow life
T2 - Population density and life history strategy
AU - Sng, Oliver
AU - Neuberg, Steven
AU - Varnum, Michael
AU - Kenrick, Douglas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2017/5
Y1 - 2017/5
N2 - The world population has doubled over the last half century. Yet, research on the psychological effects of human population density, once a popular topic, has decreased over the past few decades. Applying a fresh perspective to an old topic, we draw upon life history theory to examine the effects of population density. Across nations and across the U.S. states (Studies 1 and 2), we find that dense populations exhibit behaviors corresponding to a slower life history strategy, including greater future-orientation, greater investment in education, more long-term mating orientation, later marriage age, lower fertility, and greater parental investment. In Studies 3 and 4, experimentally manipulating perceptions of high density led individuals to become more future-oriented. Finally, in Studies 5 and 6, experimentally manipulating perceptions of high density seemed to lead to life-stage-specific slower strategies, with college students preferring to invest in fewer rather than more relationship partners, and an older MTurk sample preferring to invest in fewer rather than more children. This research sheds new insight on the effects of density and its implications for human cultural variation and society at large.
AB - The world population has doubled over the last half century. Yet, research on the psychological effects of human population density, once a popular topic, has decreased over the past few decades. Applying a fresh perspective to an old topic, we draw upon life history theory to examine the effects of population density. Across nations and across the U.S. states (Studies 1 and 2), we find that dense populations exhibit behaviors corresponding to a slower life history strategy, including greater future-orientation, greater investment in education, more long-term mating orientation, later marriage age, lower fertility, and greater parental investment. In Studies 3 and 4, experimentally manipulating perceptions of high density led individuals to become more future-oriented. Finally, in Studies 5 and 6, experimentally manipulating perceptions of high density seemed to lead to life-stage-specific slower strategies, with college students preferring to invest in fewer rather than more relationship partners, and an older MTurk sample preferring to invest in fewer rather than more children. This research sheds new insight on the effects of density and its implications for human cultural variation and society at large.
KW - Behavioral ecology
KW - Cross-cultural differences
KW - Life history theory
KW - Population density
KW - Time orientation
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U2 - 10.1037/pspi0000086
DO - 10.1037/pspi0000086
M3 - Article
C2 - 28068116
AN - SCOPUS:85008467274
SN - 0022-3514
VL - 112
SP - 736
EP - 754
JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
IS - 5
ER -