AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO PANIC BEHAVIOR.
Abstract
A series of studies are reported in which the subject's efforts to escape a danger situation (a threatened electric shock) were thwarted due to the actions of fellow group members who were jamming the escape route in their own efforts to escape. The subject was faced with a situation in which she could either: (a) wait until the escape route became unjammed and then try to escape in cooperation with the rest of her group, or (b) escape the danger situation immediately by sacrificing her fellow group members, i.e., assuring their exposure to the threatened shock. If a subject did save herself at the expense of the other group members she was considered to be engaging in the nonadaptive behavior (from the standpoint of total group survival) that seems to be characteristic of panic behavior. A number of situational, personality, and background variables were investigated to determine their possible influence in terms of either facilitating or inhibiting the panic response. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0637604
Entities
People
- Duane P. Schultz
Organizations
- University of Mary Washington