Conformity Behavior During a Fire Disaster

• Published in: Social behavior and personality Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 313 - 324
• Main Authors: Duo, Qi, Shen, Huizhang, Zhao, Jidi, Gong, Xiaomin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palmerston North Scientific Journal Publishers 01.03.2016; Scientific Journal Publishers, Ltd; Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd
• Subjects: Behavior; Conformity; Conformity Behavior; Decision making; Decision-Making Performance; Disasters; Emergency Situation; Emotions; Fear Activation; Fire Disaster; Fires; Hypotheses; Influence; Number Of Escape Choices; Psychological aspects; Psychological research; Researchers
• ISSN: 0301-2212; 1179-6391
• DOI: 10.2224/sbp.2016.44.2.313

A fire disaster can involve severe personal injury, and individuals may take various actions to respond to such threats-in particular, following others' behavior when trying to escape. In this experimental study, 114 participants watched a video about escaping from a fire, then prepared an emotional-experience report and decided which of 2 or 4 options they would choose in a situation. Results revealed that individuals exposed to a fire situation experienced a significantly higher level of fear activation, inferior decision-making performance, and higher conformity tendency than did those exposed to a nonemergency situation. Further, the number of choices offered for making an escape was negatively related to conformity behavior, and decision-making performance was found to be a dual mediator both between the level of fear activation and conformity behavior and between the number of choices and conformity behavior.