"The normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.
The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
This mind set does not just affect people during a natural disaster; people are affected by this during everything from a car wreck to a civil disturbance event. People do not acknowledge things are not normal and act in ways which are not appropriate to what is going on. Most of us have seen this happen in one form or another. Most common manifestation of this is people who keep asking ‘why?’ something is happening.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why is this happening?”
“Why is this happening to me?”
This mental state seems to come before the ‘flight or fight’ syndrome kicks in and can even delay the triggering of ‘flight or fight’. For some people this mental state stops them from realizing the situation is not normal and even dangerous. This can lead to people doing really just stupid things or lead to complete inaction by the person.
People also seem to exhibit this behavior by just not doing anything before, during or after an emergency. Not in the situation has overwhelmed them, they cannot mentally handle what is happening and they simply melt down way. Some people will refuse to take any action because they believe someone else will fix the situation or the situation will change for the better. All they have to do is keep waiting. This inaction in most cases leads to the situation only becoming worse. We have all seen people just stand or sit around waiting, they are not panicked or emotional they are just waiting. Nowadays with everyone having a camera this is also manifested by people who walk around recording incidents as if the camera somehow keeps them safe and separated from the situation. As if they are spectators? The biggest problem with having normalcy bias is the inaction it brings.
People will not acknowledge things can happen and they will not do anything to prepare.
People will not react during a situation because they refuse to acknowledge something is happening.
People will not take proactive steps after something has happened to deal with the situation.
A major step to countering normalcy bias is to acknowledge bad things happen. Sounds simple enough yet is the most difficult part. Mentally you have to say to yourself “Ok, I do not like the idea of something bad happening, heck it kinds of scares me to think about it, but I need to know bad things can and will happen to my loved ones or myself!” Once you mentally accept things will happen you are a step ahead of the rest of the herd.
If your loved ones and you have already acknowledged the fact things happen you can move on to the next step, what to do? While others take the step of getting over their bias you can already be walking out of burning building, taking shelter during a storm or gathering needed supplies. The trick is to already be a step ahead in the decision making process.
Since you are reading this post odds are you might have already acknowledged things can go south. The next step is to get your family, friends and neighbors to at least acknowledge this. The more people planning, reacting and ready to help during a situation the better for everyone, including you!
As Always,
Stay Safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment