Eighty male and 80 female college students participated in an experiment to study reactions to stress as a function of room size and interaction distance. Two subjects (one male and one female) sat on stools either relatively close together (1.22m) or far apart (2.74m), in a waiting room relatively large 5.94m X 3.96m or small 2.44m X 3.96m. They completed a Personality and Environment questionnaire, received task instructions and consent forms, and then waited 10-min in the large or small room for the experimental task that involved receiving either shocks or lights as performance feedback. During the waiting period three observers watched through a one-way mirror and recorded specific behaviors of each of the subjects. After the 10-min wait, the Personality and Environment questionnaire was readministered as well as a sociometric questionnaire.

The design was a factorial of 2(Stress Conditions) X 2(Room Sizes) X 2(Seating Distances) X 2(Sex of Subject) X 2(Assessment Times). Ten pairs of subjects were randomly assigned to one of the eight experimental conditions. The analysis of the three semantic differential items relating to current stress state (Rattled and Jittery vs Cool and Collected, Calm vs Worried, Tense vs Relaxed) indicated a significant Stress Condition X Seating Distance X Assessment Time interaction. That is, when anticipating the Shock Condition subjects showed a greater increase in stress feelings when they interacted Close than Far. No effects of sex nor room size on these stress ratings were observed. These findings supported the notion that interaction distance, and not room size, is the more prominent spatial variable associated with crowding effects.