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Rafe wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:36 am

Excaliber wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 8:00 am That herd is easily stampeded and never learns.

Yep. Allelomimesis, or specifically allelomimetic behavior: "in which performance of a behavior increases the probability of that behavior also being performed by other nearby animals." I wrote a paper about it many years ago, back when it was considered only relevant to ethology, the study of animal behavior. Konrad Lorenz is the first I remember writing about it, particularly in his book On Aggression (1966).

But we're animals, too. And the applicability to humans is clearly demonstrated in that video clip. A more innocuous example: Have a large movie theater with four sets of doors. Prop open the central set of doors and leave the two at the sides closed...but unlocked. The vast majority of people exiting the theater will queue up and wait to file through those two sets of open doors.

I think it should be brought up as part of situational awareness courses, too. We don't necessarily realize our natural tendency to do it until it's pointed out and reinforced. If someone had fired shots at that rally, perhaps the worst direction to run would be the one in which the crowd chose to go. You might get jostled, tripped, or at the very least clogged-up in the congestion with no place to go: makes for a target-rich environment.

Part of situational awareness is knowing what points of ingress and egress are available to you, but also knowing which of those are most likely to become clogged in an emergency. When possible, take the road less traveled.