Panic

Panic is a sudden fear which dominates thinking and often affects groups of people or animals. Panics typically occur in disaster situations, and may endanger the overall health of the affected group. The word panic derives from the name of the god Pan in Greek mythology, who supposedly struck fear into the enemies of his subjects.

Related Topics:
Fear - Disaster - God - Pan - Greek mythology

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Prehistoric man used mass panic as a weapon when hunting animals, especially ruminants. Herds scared by unusually strong sound and visual effects were directed towards cliffs, where they eventually jumped to their death when cornered.

Related Topics:
Prehistoric man - Ruminant - Herd - Cliff

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Humans are also vulnerable to panic and it is often considered infectious, in the sense one person's panic may easily spread to other people nearby and the entire mass of humanity will soon start to act irrationally. But people also have the ability to prevent and/or control their own and other's panic by way of thinking and practice drills. Architects and city planners try to accommodate the symptoms of panic, such as herd behavior, during design and planning, often using simulations to determine the best way to lead people to a safe exit and prevent congestion (stampedes). The most effective methods are often un-intuitive. A column, approximately 1 ft in diameter, placed in front of the door exit at a precisely calculated distance, may speed up the evacuation of a large room by up to 30%, as the obstacle divides the congestion well ahead of the choke point.

Related Topics:
Irrational - Architect - City planner - Symptom - Herd behavior - Design - Planning - Simulation

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In sociology, precipitate and irrational actions of a group are often referred to as panics (e.g., "sex panic", "stock market panic"), see also hysteria. Panic is usally understood to mean active, but senseless behaviour (e.g. trying to flee in a random direction or suddenly attacking others without consideration), while hysteria often carries a more passive notion (as in crying uncontrollably). An influential theoretical treatment of panic by a sociologist is found in Neil J.Smelser, Theory of Collective Behavior.

Related Topics:
Sociology - Hysteria

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The science of panic management has found important practical applications in the armed forces and emergency services of the world.

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Many highly publicized cases of deadly panic occurred during massive public events.

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The layout of Mecca, holiest among the islamic holy places, recently has been extensively redesigned and overhauled by saudi authorities to eliminate frequent stampedes, which had left an average of 250 pilgrims dead every year. The Al-Aaimmah_bridge_catastrophe%2C_2005 in Iraq which killed up to 1000 people, has been a particularly terrible case of pilgrim's panic, induced by fears of terrorism.

Related Topics:
Mecca - Saudi - Stampede - Pilgrim - Al-Aaimmah_bridge_catastrophe%2C_2005 - Iraq

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Soccer stadiums in Europe and South America had seen deadly crowd rushes and stampedes that killed up to 50 spectators, sometime shown live on TV. This led to mandatory use of controlled entry gates and stricter rules were imposed by the end of the 1980s to regulate seating arrangements.

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