Crowds during disasters are a resource for support, not a panic problem.

Evidence

Whereas there is a tradition not only in psychology but also in emergency planning and disaster response that has treated the crowd as a problem because it is assumed to be liable to ‘panic’ (Bendersky, 2007; Sime, 1990), the present analysis reverses this by suggesting that it is precisely in these unstructured collectives where the necessary support and coordination may be found during emergencies and disasters. If the crowd is in many instances the ‘fourth emergency service’, then emergency planners and professional responders need to understand and facilitate this. — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 135

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to ‘On Sacrifice’ themes of how collectives coordinate under threat, and complements the solidarity/support emphasis.
• SEED: Angles for an essay on how disaster-response planning frameworks assume panic and thereby overlook crowds as the real first responders.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 135
• XREF: connects to: WTC evacuations were calm and cooperative rather than panicked — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 33; Emergency services overwhelmed after sudden disasters make mutual aid essential for survival. — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 49; People become more empathetic and resourceful after disasters, not selfish — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 123 (+13 more)

Related

• Disaster survivors in a crowd describe intense unity with strangers. (similarity 0.90)
• Social support in disasters ranges from individual acts to collective cooperation. (similarity 0.90)
• Emergency services overwhelmed after sudden disasters make mutual aid essential for survival. (similarity 0.89)
• Emergencies typically produce mutual aid and orderliness rather than competitive panic. (similarity 0.89)
• Shared identity that enables crowd helping often emerges during an emergency rather than pre-existing. (similarity 0.89)
• Shared emergent identity from common fate explains collective support amid disasters (similarity 0.89)
• A shared identity can emerge within a crowd only after an emergency begins. (similarity 0.88)
• The psychological crowd is an adaptive survival resource in emergencies (similarity 0.88)
• Mass emergency behaviour stems from social identity, not panic or irrationality (similarity 0.87)
• Shared social identity produces adaptive psychosocial resilience that aids group survival in emergencies. (similarity 0.87)
• People act collectively in emergencies despite being conditioned toward individual self-interest. (similarity 0.87)
• Shared fate in danger makes strangers act as one group offering help. (similarity 0.87)
• Mutual helping, not selfish flight, is the dominant emergency behaviour (similarity 0.87)
• Survivors who experienced unity in an emergency also helped others. (similarity 0.86)
• Shared identity turns crowds from irrational mobs into solidarity-based adaptive resources (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• Emergencies typically produce mutual aid and orderliness rather than competitive panic. #corroborates (0.92) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 9
• Mass emergency behaviour stems from social identity, not panic or irrationality #corroborates (0.92) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 122
• People become more empathetic and resourceful after disasters, not selfish #corroborates (0.90) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 123
• The psychological crowd is an adaptive survival resource in emergencies #corroborates (0.90) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 126
• Emergency crowds can generate new social bonds among strangers. #expands (0.90) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 13
• Shared identity that enables crowd helping often emerges during an emergency rather than pre-existing. #expands (0.85) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 79
• Post-disaster solidarity toward strangers stems from emergent shared social identity, not prior personal ties. #expands (0.85) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 118
• Disaster survivors who feel shared fate identify socially and give emotional support #expands (0.85) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 73
• Social support in disasters ranges from individual acts to collective cooperation. #expands (0.82) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 27
• Disaster survivors in a crowd describe intense unity with strangers. #corroborates (0.80) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 61
• Survivors who experienced unity in an emergency also helped others. #corroborates (0.80) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 72
• Expecting support from fellow survivors enables coordinated collective action. #expands (0.75) — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 22
• Watching others give help makes disaster survivors give help themselves via expected reciprocity. #expands (0.75) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 6