会议专题

How people behave in anticipation of and during earthquakes: A review of social science literature on what drives this behaviour

The paper reviews social science research on what motivates peoples behaviours in anticipation of and during earthquakes. Seismic risk perceptions vary according to psychological, social and environmental factors, but do not directly determine seismic adjustment. Risk perception motivates people to assess their subjective sense of control over earthquake risk. Levels of control are further moderated by sociocultural norms regarding who is responsible for seismic adjustments. Without trust in ones own and others competence and willingness to reduce earthquake exposure, adjustment intentions are weak. Acting on credible warnings is conditional on a sense of subjective control, feeling responsible for ones own and others safety, and trusting the community and its leaders to take appropriate action throughout the entire disaster cycle. Behaviour during earthquakes is,contrary to popular myths, not dominated by panic and irrationality. Besides the overarching goal of survival,people strive to maintain altruistic and rational social relations, even among groups of strangers. Explanations for these behaviours centre on the universal need to belong to groups, which allows people to engage in collective problem-solving while maintaining a sense of safety and normality. We note that many studies employ questionable methods. Theoretically, most of them rely on the intention-causes-behaviour model, which only accounts for under a third of the variance in behaviour (Sheeran, 2002). Decisions on how to prepare for emergencies are also shaped by cultural values, social representations of risk and emotionally-driven judgments. An integration of these would facilitate a more valid psychological framework for interdisciplinary earthquake research.

Human behaviour seismic adjustment literature review

C. Solberg H. Joffe T. Rossetto

Div. Of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom Dept. Of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London,United Kin

国际会议

14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering(第十四届国际地震工程会议)

北京

英文

2008-10-12(万方平台首次上网日期,不代表论文的发表时间)