TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Cooperation versus competition in a mass emergency evacuation: a new laboratory simulation and a new theoretical model
JO  - Behavior research methods
A1  - Drury, John
A1  - Cocking, Chris
A1  - Reicher, Steve
A1  - Burton, Andy
A1  - Schofield, Damian
A1  - Hardwick, Andrew
A1  - Graham, Danielle
A1  - Langston, Paul
SP  - 957
EP  - 970
VL  - 41
IS  - 3
N2  - Virtual reality technology is argued to be suitable to the simulation study of mass evacuation behavior, because of the practical and ethical constraints in researching this field. This article describes three studies in which a new virtual reality paradigm was used, in which participants had to escape from a burning underground rail station. Study 1 was carried out in an immersion laboratory and demonstrated that collective identification in the crowd was enhanced by the (shared) threat embodied in emergency itself. In Study 2, high-identification participants were more helpful and pushed less than did low-identification participants. In Study 3, identification and group size were experimentally manipulated, and similar results were obtained. These results support a hypothesis according to which (emergent) collective identity motivates solidarity with strangers. It is concluded that the virtual reality technology developed here represents a promising start, although more can be done to embed it in a traditional psychology laboratory setting.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1554-351X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.3.957
ID  - ref1
ER  -