The psychology of waiting

Rokin Underground Station, Amsterdam

Waiting. Everybody does it and spends much time on it. Therefore, it is surprising how little attention it receives from social scientists and philosophers. I think that street photographers pay more attention to this kind of action. For an action it is. Waiting is not simply doing nothing, being inactive. Waiting has an intention. It is doing nothing in view of something else, and this having an intention makes it an action.
Waiting has philosophical, sociological and psychological aspects. The philosophical aspects concern, for instance, the meaning of waiting and its place in life. The sociological aspects concern, for instance, waiting in a group and waiting in public. The psychological aspects concern how we experience it. Although I am mainly interested in the philosophical and sociological aspects of waiting, and then especially those of waiting in public, I don’t want to ignore the psychology of waiting, also because it influences how “managers” of public spaces organise public areas, and then in the first place, of course, those places made for waiting, like bus stops or platforms in railway stations; and it is the same for managers of semi-public spaces like hospital waiting rooms, the foyers of theatres or sports stadiums. In this blog, I’ll investigate how managers of public space and semi-public spaces, use or can use these psychological aspects for the organisation of waiting spaces. My analysis is based on an article by David H. Maister about the management of waiting in restaurants.

1 – Unoccupied Time Feels Longer than Occupied Time. In semi-public waiting rooms (like a doctor’s waiting room), you often find magazines and other lecture that can be used by the waiting people. However, many waiting people are self-managers and shorten their psychological waiting time with their smartphones or by reading stuff they have taken with them. That’s why many railway stations have bookshops. Music can also reduce the psychological waiting time, for instance in sports stadiums before the match (in addition, it puts the spectators in the mood).
2 – Pre- and Post-process Waits Feel Longer than In-process Waits. Waiting feels less onerous when you are already involved in the process you are waiting for, even in case it increases the overall waiting time. So, when entering a hospital, often you are directly asked to fill in a form, which gives the feeling of being “in-process” and reduces the sense of waiting. When you sit in a moving train for half an hour time seems to go faster than when you wait half an hour on the platform, till the train arrives. Then the train suddenly stops for an unknown reason. The process of the waiting-in-progress stops then as well and a minute of waiting suddenly feels like an hour of moving, so to speak. To reduce the psychological waiting time, modern trains and buses have screens with travel information, such as speed and time to the next station. Sometimes the driver tells you what is going on when an unplanned stop happens.
3 – Anxiety Makes Waits Seem Longer. You are in vain waiting for your train. Then you are informed that an accident has happened. Even if the length of the delay is unknown, information may help. When there are roadworks on a motorway sometimes the length of the works is indicated.
4 – Uncertain Waits are Longer than Known, Finite Waits. Trains and buses are often delayed for unimportant reasons. It should be the norm that such delays always be indicated on information panels.
5 – Unexplained Waits are Longer than Explained Waits. Many motorways have information panels that inform the drivers about traffic jams or slow-moving traffic caused by accidents or roadworks. Train passengers are informed about accidents or technical problems. Or – a semi-public event – sometimes it happens that an opera singer suddenly has become ill and a substitute has not yet arrived in the theatre. So the performance will start somewhat later. Then the public is informed of the problem (also because the cast has changed).
6 – Unfair Waits are Longer than Equitable Waits. In a queue it sometimes happens that someone goes out of turn. Or you don’t know when it is your turn. For semi-public waits, there is an easy solution: Give numbered tickets to waiting people, so that they can be served in order of arrival. In public spaces, this is often difficult or impossible to realise. Lines on the ground indicating where to wait or cords guiding the queues can help, but much depends also on the discipline of the waiting people.
7 – People Will Wait Longer for More Valuable Services. Public space managers can make waiting more comfortable, for example by placing benches, or by simple covered waiting spaces that protect against the weather; or they can even place there a drinks machine and the like.
8 – Waiting Alone Feels Longer than Waiting in Groups. Public space managers cannot do much about this problem.
9 – Physically Uncomfortable Waiting Feels Longer. Waiting rooms, bus shelters, benches, good lightning at dark places in the evening, etc will help. See also point 7.
10 – Waits Seem Longer to New or Occasional Users. Public space managers can provide as much information as possible to customers, travellers, etc. and describe the process they are waiting for in detail. Think of informative websites, information panels, and oral messages via a public address system.

Waiting in public can happen everywhere. In fact, waiting is part of the stream of life and doesn’t stand out. Usually it is a routine action. Indeed, usually it is an action. Waiting implies many decisions, like where and how to wait and what to do while waiting. Waiting is often boring and stressful, as the ten psychological characteristics of waiting show. A public space manager can do something about this. If this is done well, time will fly, even if the wait is long.