Fear contagion and mass panic? What fear does to crowds
Résumé
Fear is thought to be a highly contagious emotion, such that it is conducive to mass
panic, whereby each crowd member experiences intense fear and maximizes their own
survival at the expense of others. However, more than fifty years of research have
depicted crowds facing deadly threats as calm and orderly. In this talk, I will discuss
what fear does to crowds by evaluating the claims that (i) fear is contagious, (ii) that it
can lead to ‘mass panic’, and (iii) that it promotes self-preservative behavior. I will also
try to sketch an alternative view, whereby the experience of fear leads to the production
of alarm signals (‘alarm calls’) and quickly promotes allo-oriented behaviors, such as
mobbing and collective defense, as typically observed in a number of nonhuman
species.