The mass psychology of disasters and emergency evacuations: Implications for the emergency services Presentation for the BPS annual conference,

Dublin 2/4/2008Chris 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@londonmet.ac.uk

Outline of Presentation

Background and aims of research

Data from interview studies Implications for emergency

planners

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)

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

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)

Under-reaction rather than over-reaction‘When people die in fires, it’s not because of

panic, it’s 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)

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?

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

Interview studies 21 survivors of 11 different

emergencies 12 survivors of 7/7/2005 Open–ended interviews Tape-recorded and transcribed Analysed using Content Analysis

and IPA

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

Hillsborough survivor I don’t think people did lose control of

their emotions [ ] they were clearly in control of their own emotions and their own physical insecurity, I mean [] you’re being crushed, you’re 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

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

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

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

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

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

Implications for emergency services

More info rather than less can improve evacuation time and efficiency (Proulx & Sime, 1991)

Source of info and whether it’s trusted matters

Appeal to crowd’s co-operative nature - don’t assume they will behave selfishly or panic

Practice evacuations- don’t assume it won’t happen to you!

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

People may delay own escape to help othersAppeal to the crowd’s common humanity- ‘We’re in this together’Don’t address commuters as atomised ‘customers’Influential leader figures may emerge from crowd, who can help rescue effort

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/applications.html

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.