心理学家试图解释踩踏事件如何避免

Group Identity May Prevent Human Stampedes 心理学家试图解释踩踏事件如何避免

Large gatherings¹ are usually peaceful but sometimes turn unruly with deadly consequences. Last year’s stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, for example, left more than 2,000 people dead. Psychologists say understanding how and why crowds sometimes behave as they do, and controlling them, involves recognizing people's capacity for self-regulation.

Saudi authorities say they have spent more than $300 million to improve the safety of pilgrims during the annual visit to the Muslim holy sites, a central tenet of Islam.

But stampedes still happen in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, so psychologists are trying to understand why and what can be done to prevent them.

Understanding stampedes

Observing groups of undergraduate students, psychologists at the University of Sussex noticed differences in behavior when subjects perceived themselves as individuals sharing only physical space with others, as opposed to sharing some sort of social identity.

“We primed a bunch of undergraduate students to share a group identity and then gave them a task where they had to walk to a library square on the Sussex campus, and we filmed them as they walked under a bridge and then tracked that behavior” Anne Tempelton, PhD student explained. “and we compared that behavior to when they weren't primed at all.”

Sharing common identity, stick together

Students who shared the common identity, such as wearing the same black baseball caps, stayed together, keeping a close formation. Students who did not belong to a group just rushed past each other.

Using the videos, social psychologists at the University of Applied² Sciences in Munich created a computer simulation which showed that individuals sharing a common identity move slower and seem to be less susceptible³ to panic attacks. They may be easier to control because they feel safer when they belong to the same group.

“We got an explanation for that, which is the more that people identify with the crowd, the more they expect social support,” said Dr. John Drury, University of Sussex.

Psychologists say this and other studies point to the importance of having a person who communicates to others within a group, helping⁴ them to internalize instructions about which behavior is safe and which is unsafe.

1 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。