In a fire or terrorist attack, human behaviour can vary greatly depending on the situation, but common patterns include: initial shock and disbelief, confusion, panic, a strong desire to find loved ones, attempts to gather personal belongings, a tendency to follow the crowd, and potential irrational decision-making due to high stress levels; with some people acting quickly to evacuate while others may freeze or hesitate, potentially leading to dangerous behaviours like crowding exits or ignoring instructions.
Key aspects of human behaviour in emergency situations:
Delayed response:
People may initially hesitate to act, especially if they are unsure of the situation or if the threat seems distant.
Information seeking:
Individuals may try to gather more information about the threat before acting, often looking to authorities or other people around them.
Herding behaviour:
The tendency to follow the crowd, even if it leads to a less optimal escape route.
Panic behaviour:
In high-stress situations, people may experience panic, leading to irrational actions like running without a clear direction or pushing others aside.
Social responsibility:
Some individuals may try to help others, like children or elderly people, even at potential risk to themselves.
Decision-making under pressure:
The ability to make rational decisions can be impaired in an emergency, leading to poor choices about evacuation routes or actions to take.
Factors influencing behaviour:
Severity of the threat: The perceived level of danger can significantly affect how people react.
Familiarity with the environment:
People are more likely to act quickly and effectively if they are familiar with the building layout and escape routes. People who listen to evacuation instructions particularly on aircraft have a higher survival rate.
Evidence has shown that when people are in an emergency, they may well attempt to normalise the situation. For example, in tests people in shopping centres have evacuated via the entrance they came in through which may not be the nearest.
Resistance to task interruption:
People often delay evacuation to finish tasks, make or complete phone calls, etc. Search for social confirmation: Especially in situations where the nature or severity of the risk is unclear, people tend to discuss the situation and to then make group decisions.
People are more likely to move when given verbal instructions be it in person or via a public address system. The author who spent 2 years in the police and 22 years in the ambulance service has witnessed these behaviours many times. On one occasion attending a hotel fire where people were trapped and subsequently said they smelt burning at one am in the morning but decided to not react. (all survived with just smoke inhalation). Research that started in political science and now explored across the social sciences has argued that people deny the reality of a situation not because they do not perceive the reality, but because they wish to express affiliation for an alternate, false reality.
Training and preparedness:
Proper emergency training can help individuals make better decisions and act calmly in a crisis.
Social norms and group dynamics:
The behaviour of others in the group can influence individual actions.
