Emotional effect of overcrowding.

I recall a socialogy class in 1971 in which we discussed the research of a Cornell University researcher.
I do not recall his name and have looked for it and his paper for over 10 years now. If it anyone can help me I would appreciate it. In his research of over 100 species of animals, he observed the same behavior. What he did was take two males and females of the species and contained them in a large cage. No matter now big the population became he added sufficent food and water and kept the area clean.
He observed that at some point the population became so great that the "normal" behavior changes. Females would start ignoring their offspring and in some cases even kill them. Off spring would often attack the parents, Off spring would form form "packs" and attack other off spring and adults and even kill them (food and water was not an issue). Some of the animals would race around the cage in almost endless motion until they were slept in exhaustion and repeat it on awaking. The population would start to decrease, because mating became rare occurance, even in juvenile animals.
Looking at gangs today, and parents harming their children, and children attacking their parents--have made me wonder if this could be the results of overcrowding. No more open spaces for people to easly move about in.

That sounds like an interesting social experiment, not sure what the ethics commitees would make of it today though?
I would say it has something to do with power struggles and who has the dominant power in the group. The smaller the space and the larger the group, surely there are more vying for the control position over everyone else. The alpha male type situation. - just shows what boredom does to one, I certainly found that after a week in the confined space of a caravan holiday I'm ready to kill my family!