Presentation
Impact of Negative Emotion, and Social Influence on Pre-evacuation Decision-making
SessionPoster Session 1
DescriptionPre-evacuation delays emerge when fear, cognitive anchoring, and social cues disrupt attention to hazard signals, creating a gap between threat awareness and action. This laboratory study investigates how these factors influence evacuation behavior by combining fear induction (written recall of past experiences), eye-tracking measurement, and controlled social influence. Participants (N = 22) engaged in an incentivized task before an unannounced fire alarm, while confederates either evacuated or stayed. Results revealed: (1) social influence strongly shaped decisions, with participants less likely to evacuate when confederates stayed; (2) task anchoring delayed alarm recognition; and (3) although fear levels rose significantly after induction, fear did not significantly predict evacuation behavior. Eye-tracking analysis showed that evacuators had fewer fixations and saccades, suggesting quicker visual disengagement from the task and faster attention to safety-relevant cues. These findings indicate that evacuation is shaped more by attentional dynamics and social context than by emotional arousal alone. Practically, the study supports using dynamic alert systems to interrupt attentional tunneling and incorporating training that addresses the influence of social cues during emergencies.
Event Type
Poster
TimeTuesday, October 14th5:30pm - 6:30pm CDT
LocationRiverside East
Similar Presentations