The mass psychology of disasters and emergency evacuations: Implications for the emergency services

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The mass psychology of disasters and emergency
evacuations Implications for the emergency
services

• Presentation for the BPS annual conference,
• Dublin 2/4/2008
• Chris Cocking, John Drury Steve Reicher
• London Metropolitan University, University of
  Sussex University of St. Andrews
• Funded by ESRC (Ref no RES-000-23-0446)
• c.cocking_at_londonmet.ac.uk

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Outline of Presentation

• Background and aims of research
• Data from interview studies
• Implications for emergency planners

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Development of crowd behaviour theories over time

• 19th Century- The irrationalist approach (Le Bon,
  1895)
• 1960s - 70s more rationalist approaches Emergent
  Norm Theory (Turner R., 1974)
• From 1980s to present- The Social Identity Model
  (Reicher, 2001)

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The Panic model

• Part of the irrationalist tradition in crowd
  psychology
• a) Threat causes emotion to overwhelm reason
• b) Collective identity breaks down
• c) Selfish behaviours - pushing, trampling
• d) Contagion - these behaviours spread to crowd
  as a whole
• This has implications for emergency planning

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Iroquois fire 1903

• most of the dead were trampled or smothered,
  though many jumped or fell to the floor of the
  foyer. In places on the stairways, particularly
  where a turn caused a jam, bodies were piled 7 or
  8 feet deep. Fireman and Police confronted a
  sickening task in disentangling them. The heel
  prints on the dead faces mutely testified to the
  cruel fact that human animals stricken by terror
  are as mad and ruthless as stampeding cattle
• (in Latané Darley 1970 p. 53)

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Under-reaction rather than over-reaction

• When people die in fires, its not because of
  panic, its more likely to be the lack of panic
  p.73
• Neil Townsend, Divisional Officer, London Fire
  Rescue Service (in Kemp, 2003)
• Supported by evidence of behaviour in fires that
  people are often unwilling to deviate from
  familiar activity, leading them to continue with
  existing behaviours or evacuate along known
  routes, even in the face of danger (Canter, 1990)
  

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Social attachment model(Mawson, 2005)

• In emergencies, people seek out attachment
  figures social norms rarely break down
• But, such ties can have fatal consequences-
  people escape (or die) in groups
• Improves on panic model, and supported by
  evidence from behaviour during fatal fires
  (Cornwell, 2001) but problems remain
• a) Implies that panic in a crowd of strangers is
  more likely
• b) Why do strangers co-operate in emergencies?

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The self-categorisation approach (Turner et al.,
1987)

• Disasters create a common identity or sense of
  we-ness- Clarke (2002)
• This can result in orderly, altruistic behaviour
  as people escape common threat
• Increased threat can enhance common identity

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Interview studies

• 21 survivors of 11 different emergencies
• 12 survivors of 7/7/2005
• Openended interviews
• Tape-recorded and transcribed
• Analysed using Content Analysis and IPA

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Results from interviews

• Common identity quickly emerges
• Co-operative rather than selfish behaviour
  predominates
• If selfish behaviour happens, it is usually
  isolated and rarely spreads

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Hillsborough survivor

• I dont think people did lose control of their
  emotions they were clearly in control of
  their own emotions and their own physical
  insecurity, I mean youre being crushed,
  youre beginning to fear for your own personal
  safety, and yet they were controlling or
  tempering their emotions to help try and remedy
  the situation and help others who were clearly
  struggling

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Research into 7/7/2005

• Data from Press reports and web-logs
• Web based questionnaire study for eye-witnesses
  of bombings
• Interviews with 12 survivors

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Response to 7/7

• Individual fear and distress, but no mass panic
• Evacuations characterised by orderly, calm
  behaviour
• Many reports of altruism, co-operation, and
  collective spirit of Londoners/ UK as a whole

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Panic?

• There was no real panic - just an overwhelming
  sense to get out of the station quickly
• Almost straight away our packed carriage started
  to fill with smoke, and people panicked
  immediately. Thankfully there were some
  level-headed people on the carriage who managed
  to calm everyone down

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Unity

• One of the things which struck me about this
  experience is that one minute you are standing
  around strangers and the next minute they become
  the closest and most important people in your
  life. That feeling was quite extraordinary

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The myth of Panic

• Many accounts of panic in emergencies
• But what actually is panic, and what is logical
  flight behaviour?
• Need to look at what people actually do, and
  decide if it is indeed panic
• More than just semantics, as it could affect
  emergency evacuation planning

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Implications for emergency services

• More info rather than less can improve evacuation
  time and efficiency (Proulx Sime, 1991)
• Source of info and whether its trusted matters
• Appeal to crowds co-operative nature - dont
  assume they will behave selfishly or panic
• Practice evacuations- dont assume it wont
  happen to you!

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Crowds can be part of the solution rather than
part of the problem

• People may delay own escape to help others
• Appeal to the crowds common humanity- Were in
  this together
• Dont address commuters as atomised customers
• Influential leader figures may emerge from
  crowd, who can help rescue effort

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Summary

• Crowds in emergencies behave in ways that are
  consistent with their identities and governed by
  the social norms of the situation
• The panic model is largely a myth
• http//www.sussex.ac.uk/affiliates/panic/applicati
  ons.html

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References

• Blake et al. (2004). Proceedings of Third
  International Symposium on Human Behaviour in
  Fire
• Canter, D. (ed.) (1990) Fires and human behaviour
  (pp. 15-30). London David Fulton
• Cornwell, B. (2001). The Sociological Quarterly,
  44, 617-638
• Kemp R (2003) Homeland Security best practices
  for local government. http//www.icma.org
• Le Bon, G. (1968)The crowd A study of the
  popular mind. (Originally published 1895)
• Mawson, A.R. (2005) Psychiatry, 68, (2) 95-113.
• Proulx, G. Sime, J.D. (1991). Fire Safety
  Science Proceedings of the Third International
  Symposium, 843-852
• Reicher, S. (2001). The psychology of crowd
  dynamics. In M.A. Hogg and R.S. Tindale (Eds.),
  Blackwell handbook of social psychology Group
  processes (pp. 182-208). Oxford, UK Blackwell
• Turner J et al (1987) Rediscovering the social
  group
• Turner, R.H. (1974). Collective behavior. In
  R.E.L. Faris (ed.), Handbook of Modern Sociology.
  Chicago Rand McNally.