Which one is not a characteristic of crowding experience?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Feeling of comfort
Crowding is not the same as a crowd. It is a feeling of discomfort because there are too many people or things around us, giving the experience of physical restriction and sometimes a lack of privacy. The experience of crowding has four features: feeling of discomfort, loss or decrease in privacy, negative view of the space around the person, and feeling of loss of control over social interaction.
Option (1) Loss in privacy — A feature of crowding (Incorrect). With too many people around, a person gets less privacy.
Option (2) Loss of control over social interaction — A feature of crowding (Incorrect). In a crowded space a person cannot choose whom to meet or avoid.
Option (3) Negative view of the space around the person — A feature of crowding (Incorrect). The person sees the space around as too small and restricting.
Option (4) Feeling of comfort — Not a feature (Correct). Crowding is the very opposite: its first feature is a feeling of discomfort, and that is why it works as an environmental stressor.
Note: The features of crowding are not there in the 2023-24 NCERT, which NTA followed in 2024, or in the NCERT book (2025-26); both books only name crowding among the environmental stresses. They were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, and hence this question has been picked from the pre-rationalised NCERT.
NCERT (2025-26): “Physical and Environmental Stress … Environmental stresses are aspects of our surroundings that are often unavoidable such as air pollution, crowding, noise, heat of the summer, winter cold, etc.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Crowding … But crowding has a different meaning. It refers to a feeling of discomfort because there are too many people or things around us, giving us the experience of physical restriction, and sometimes the lack of privacy. Crowding is the person’s reaction to the presence of a large number of persons within a particular area or space. When this number goes beyond a certain level, it causes stress to individuals caught in that situation. In this sense, crowding is another example of an environmental stressor. The experience of crowding has the following features :
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