Washington: A study finds that people living in big cities desire quality over quantity living due to which they prefer long-term romantic relationships, fewer children and more investment in education.
The study appeared in the journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The findings provide insights into how population density affects human psychology and has implications for thinking about population growth, environmental influences on social behaviour and human cultural diversity.
Researchers from Arizona State University in the US found that due to population density people are adopting a “slow life strategy”.
“People who live in dense places seem to plan for the future more, prefer long-term romantic relationships, get married later in life, have fewer children and invest a lot in each child. They generally adopt an approach to life that values quality over quantity,” said lead researcher Oliver Sng from the University of Michigan.
Researchers showed that population density naturally correlates with these slow life strategies.
In a series of experiments – in which people read about increasing crowdedness or heard sounds of a crowded environment, they found that perceptions of crowdedness cause people to delay gratification and prefer slower, more long-term, mating and parenting behaviours.
“To be successful in this competition, they need to invest more in building up their own abilities, which tends to delay having children,” he added.
“Because this greater social competition also affects their kids, they tend to focus more of their time and energy on enhancing their abilities and competitiveness. (ANI)