Mass emergency behaviour stems from social identity, not panic or irrationality

Evidence

In pointing to the limits of not only the ‘mass panic’ approach but also of existing models of sociality in mass emergencies, this study opens the way for considering the principles of SCT as an alternative explanatory framework. The analysis suggests that emergencies and disasters can fruitfully be conceptualized in terms of crowd behaviour. Over twenty years of experimental social psychology have converged around the conclusion that crowd behaviour and other group processes are largely explicable not in terms of irrationality, individual psychology, interpersonal interaction, or generic norms but rather in terms of social identity. An aggregate of individuals becomes and acts as a psychological crowd when there is a cognitive redefinition of the self from a personal to a social identity (Turner et al. — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 122

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the popular ‘mass panic’ framing of emergencies; connects to disaster sociology and the social identity approach of Turner and Reicher. — connects to: People act collectively in emergencies despite being conditioned toward individual self-interest. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 14; Shared emergent identity from common fate explains collective support amid disasters — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 15; Witnessing identity-mates panic or flee can spread that behaviour through crowds — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 17 (+16 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what specific mass-emergency case studies ground this claim, and where does the ‘mass panic’ myth persist in journalism today?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 122

Related

• Social norms, not panic, structure emergency behaviour (similarity 0.89)
• People act collectively in emergencies despite being conditioned toward individual self-interest. (similarity 0.89)
• Shared identity that enables crowd helping often emerges during an emergency rather than pre-existing. (similarity 0.89)
• The psychological crowd is an adaptive survival resource in emergencies (similarity 0.88)
• A shared identity can emerge within a crowd only after an emergency begins. (similarity 0.88)
• Shared fate in danger makes strangers act as one group offering help. (similarity 0.88)
• Shared social identity produces adaptive psychosocial resilience that aids group survival in emergencies. (similarity 0.88)
• Shared emergent identity from common fate explains collective support amid disasters (similarity 0.88)
• Crowds during disasters are a resource for support, not a panic problem. (similarity 0.87)
• Emergencies typically produce mutual aid and orderliness rather than competitive panic. (similarity 0.87)
• Shared identity turns crowds from irrational mobs into solidarity-based adaptive resources (similarity 0.87)
• Mass panic language mostly labels fear, not actual selfish behaviour. (similarity 0.87)
• Mutual helping, not selfish flight, is the dominant emergency behaviour (similarity 0.87)
• Crowd ‘panic’ is rarely the true cause of disaster deaths (similarity 0.87)
• Early mass-panic theory saw crowds as dissolving social bonds into competitive fear via contagion. (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• Shared social identity is the causal variable predicting solidarity among disaster strangers. #corroborates (0.95) — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 26
• The psychological crowd is an adaptive survival resource in emergencies #expands (0.90) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 126
• Facing a shared threat transforms individuals into a psychological crowd with emergent shared identity #corroborates (0.90) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 49
• Violating a social norm triggers genuine panic until physical exit restores composure #contradicts (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1509