Expectations, preferences, and feeling crowded in recreation activities∗

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Abstract
Efforts to reduce crowding often assume that increased density or encounter levels cause increased crowding. However, the social psychology literature argues that crowding involves an evaluative dimension and is thus susceptible to subjective factors. This paper explores the individual and combined effects of encounters, expectations, and preferences on perceived crowding, using six data sets representing over 3,000 people engaged in three different recreation activities. Results show independent effects of encounters, seeing more people than expected, and seeing more than preferred. In addition, regression equations including preference and expectation variables better predict perceived crowding than encounters alone. Results suggest that perceived crowding can be reduced by providing information that makes expectations realistic and allows visitors to select the densities they prefer.