Editing Queue area (section)

====Psychology====
People experience "occupied" time as shorter than "unoccupied" time, and generally overestimate the amount of time waited by around 36%.<ref name="stone" />

The technique of giving people an activity to distract them from a wait has been used to reduce complaints of delays at:<ref name="stone">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/why-waiting-in-line-is-torture.html?pagewanted=all |title=Why Waiting Is Torture |author=Alex Stone |newspaper=The New York Times |date=Aug 18, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Baggage claim]] in the Houston, Texas airport, by moving the arrival gates further away so passengers spend more time walking than standing around waiting
* Elevators, by adding mirrors so people can groom themselves or watch other people
* Retail checkout, by placing small items for purchase so customers can continue shopping while waiting

Other techniques to reduce queueing anxiety include:<ref name="stone" />
* Hiding the length of a line by wrapping it around a corner.
* Having only one line, so there is no anxiety about which line to choose and a greater sense of fairness. Even though the average wait over time is the same, customers tend to notice lines that are moving faster than they are compared to other lines moving more slowly.
* Putting up signs that deliberately overestimate the wait time, to always exceed customer expectations.

[[Cutting in line]], also known as queue-jumping, can generate a strong negative response, depending on the local cultural norms.