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It strikes me that the workers stayed in place far longer than one might expect today. It’s hard to imagine a crew continuing to work when the floor is buckling

It strikes me that the workers stayed in place far longer than one might expect today. It’s hard to imagine a crew continuing to work when the floor is buckling, windows breaking from the stress, and so forth. Today, I’m pretty certain everyone would be ordered out at the first hint of impending structural failure. A lot has changed in 65 years.

ajb 5y ago
Behaviour during an emergency is strange. Lots of people will keep on doing what they habitually do. After the twin towers were struck there were lots of people who were still working on their computers when emergency services came to get them, according to reports I read at the time.
- toss1 5y ago
  Yes. Normalcy bias can be a real killer.
  - aaron695 5y ago
    It's far better than panic. If you have to exit a plane in a emergency, grab your bags and leave like normal, or panic and start screaming we are all going to die and start shoving. Of course everyone who reads about it responded exactly right in their heads.
    - mianos 5y ago
      I just wanted to point out that you are not meant to grab your bags for an emergency exit of a plane.
    - toss1 5y ago
      Of course raving panic is bad. What you are describing is not the result of normalcy bias, it is an actual adaptive response. Normalcy bias is receiving information of a very serious threat and still holding an unfounded disbelief in the consequences of, or optimism about the results, and so NOT taking adaptive action. Normalcy bias is what makes people keep on eating dinner while a fire is visible at the side of the conference room or dance floor. Or, in your case, just not feeling the need to leave the plane quickly... I suppose that given a choice of everyone else having normalcy bias or panic, I'd choose normalcy bias, as that way a raving crowd won't get in my way as I rapidly head for the exit, but beyond that selfish motive, I'd rather have more people respond adaptively and not die. (& um, don't grab your bags as you head for the exit windows and slides — that's a sort of different normalcy bias, as if you are leaving the plane normally.)
      - aaron695 5y ago
        > Normalcy bias is what makes people keep on eating dinner while a fire is visible at the side of the conference room or dance floor. A better example of this is paying for your meal before leaving (There is a classic inquest that showed this killed many people at one restaurant in a shopping centre fire) Like the plane, you know what to do but you can't break protocol. Wikipedia isn't real clear if this is Normalcy bias or not. These are breaking taboos (not paying for meals, leaving you most valued possessions behind). Not sure how that fits in. I know I wouldn't break taboo because of another (false) fire alarm and I've heard the story of people dying.
- Syonyk 5y ago
  One of the first things to do if you come on an emergency is to either call 911 (or insert appropriate emergency number here) yourself, or direct someone specific to do it. "You. Do you have a cell phone? Call 911." It's quite common to discover that even with a decent sized crowd around an event, nobody has actually called emergency services, because everyone assumes someone else has done it. Better to annoy the 911 operator with "Are you calling about the XYZ at the corner of A and B? Yes? Already reported, emergency services are on the way." than to have nobody contact anyone. Humans in emergencies are weird. I absolutely agree. And in the context of this article, were the floor buckling, I'd be making haste to get myself and everyone else who would listen out of there ASAP. Nothing good comes of this sort of progressive failure.
  - claudiawerner 5y ago
    What you describe sounds a lot like the 'bystander effect' which occurs a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
- knodi123 5y ago
  In this very article, the guy says that he was jumping over buckling floors and dodging falling walls to make it to his locker so he could retrieve his spare shirt.

ajb 5y ago

Behaviour during an emergency is strange. Lots of people will keep on doing what they habitually do. After the twin towers were struck there were lots of people who were still working on their computers when emergency services came to get them, according to reports I read at the time.

toss1 5y ago
Yes. Normalcy bias can be a real killer.
- aaron695 5y ago
  It's far better than panic. If you have to exit a plane in a emergency, grab your bags and leave like normal, or panic and start screaming we are all going to die and start shoving. Of course everyone who reads about it responded exactly right in their heads.
  - mianos 5y ago
    I just wanted to point out that you are not meant to grab your bags for an emergency exit of a plane.
  - toss1 5y ago
    Of course raving panic is bad. What you are describing is not the result of normalcy bias, it is an actual adaptive response. Normalcy bias is receiving information of a very serious threat and still holding an unfounded disbelief in the consequences of, or optimism about the results, and so NOT taking adaptive action. Normalcy bias is what makes people keep on eating dinner while a fire is visible at the side of the conference room or dance floor. Or, in your case, just not feeling the need to leave the plane quickly... I suppose that given a choice of everyone else having normalcy bias or panic, I'd choose normalcy bias, as that way a raving crowd won't get in my way as I rapidly head for the exit, but beyond that selfish motive, I'd rather have more people respond adaptively and not die. (& um, don't grab your bags as you head for the exit windows and slides — that's a sort of different normalcy bias, as if you are leaving the plane normally.)
    - aaron695 5y ago
      > Normalcy bias is what makes people keep on eating dinner while a fire is visible at the side of the conference room or dance floor. A better example of this is paying for your meal before leaving (There is a classic inquest that showed this killed many people at one restaurant in a shopping centre fire) Like the plane, you know what to do but you can't break protocol. Wikipedia isn't real clear if this is Normalcy bias or not. These are breaking taboos (not paying for meals, leaving you most valued possessions behind). Not sure how that fits in. I know I wouldn't break taboo because of another (false) fire alarm and I've heard the story of people dying.
Syonyk 5y ago
One of the first things to do if you come on an emergency is to either call 911 (or insert appropriate emergency number here) yourself, or direct someone specific to do it. "You. Do you have a cell phone? Call 911." It's quite common to discover that even with a decent sized crowd around an event, nobody has actually called emergency services, because everyone assumes someone else has done it. Better to annoy the 911 operator with "Are you calling about the XYZ at the corner of A and B? Yes? Already reported, emergency services are on the way." than to have nobody contact anyone. Humans in emergencies are weird. I absolutely agree. And in the context of this article, were the floor buckling, I'd be making haste to get myself and everyone else who would listen out of there ASAP. Nothing good comes of this sort of progressive failure.
- claudiawerner 5y ago
  What you describe sounds a lot like the 'bystander effect' which occurs a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
knodi123 5y ago
In this very article, the guy says that he was jumping over buckling floors and dodging falling walls to make it to his locker so he could retrieve his spare shirt.