1. Applied Crowd Psychology
Dr John Drury
University of Sussex
In association with:

2. Crowd psychology for crowd safety management
Dr John Drury

3. Starting point
Crowd safety professionals act on the basis of beliefs about crowd psychology
Whether they realise it or not
Some beliefs are better than others!
This session: what we know from current research and theory

4. Aims – session 1
To explain basic principles of crowd psychology which can be used to explain behaviour across a range of crowd settings
Not a set of ‘techniques’ for crowd management
More:
evidence and concepts that practitioners can apply across different crowd safety settings

5. What is a ‘crowd’? ‘Crowd’:
The word refers to a range of very different things!

6. What is a ‘crowd’?
Context: Shopping centre

7. What is a ‘crowd’?
Context: Railway station

8. What is a ‘crowd’?
Context: Sporting occasion

9. What is a ‘crowd’?
Context: Music event

10. What is a ‘crowd’?
Context: Political rally or march

11. Physical crowds (or aggregates)
What is a ‘crowd’?
A useful distinction:
Physical crowds (or aggregates)
Versus
Psychological crowds

12. What is a ‘crowd’? Physical crowd: I’m out shopping. . .
‘Me in relation to other individuals…’
Psychological crowd:
In the same street, but this time with other fans on my way back from seeing our football team
‘Us’

13. What is a ‘crowd’? Physical crowd:
I’m on the Central Line on the way to work . . .
Me...
Psychological crowd:
I’m in the same conditions of density, but with fellow fans on the way to a gig . . .
‘Us’ as opposed to ‘me’

14. What is a ‘crowd’?
The psychology that explains the distinction between physical and psychological crowds:
‘SOCIAL IDENTITY’
We all have personal identities
We also each have multiple social identities
Social identities are based on
SOCIAL CATEGORIES
Turner et al. (1987)

15. That which makes me unique, different from you My ‘personality’
Personal identity:
That which makes me unique, different from you
My ‘personality’
Social identities:
English
Man United fans
Psychologists
Crowd specialists
Men
Tajfel & Turner (1979)

16. What is a ‘crowd’?
In a physical crowd, people in the same space do not categorize themselves as part of the same group
In a psychological crowd, people share the same social identity
they use the same social category to define themselves
Reicher (2011)

17. A physical crowd might contain… no psychological crowds

18. A physical crowd might contain… one psychological crowd
For example: Pope Francis greets a crowd of Italian Catholic boy scouts and girl guides

19. A physical crowd might contain… two psychological crowds
For example: Rangers and Celtic at football match

20. A physical crowd might contain… three (or more) psychological crowds
Hip-hop stage
Metal stage
Coachella-type mega-festival crowd
One Direction stage

21. Shared social identity in crowds has a number of important consequences...
Neville & Reicher (2011)

22. Physical crowd
Templeton, Drury, & Philippides (In prep). Behavioural signatures of psychological crowds

23. Psychological crowd
Templeton, Drury, & Philippides (In prep). Behavioural signatures of psychological crowds

24. What we know
Some effects of shared social identity (being part of a psychological crowd):
There is shared understanding
People talk to strangers
There is social support
People coordinate their actions

25. A ‘near disaster’: Big Beach Boutique II (Brighton, 2002)
250,000 people (60,000 expected)
Emergency services overwhelmed
Exit routes blocked
Drury, Novelli & Stott (2014) Euro J Social Psych

26. 1. Shared understandings
If you and I are ‘us’….
We see things the same way
I expect you to see things in the same way as I do

27. 2. Talking to strangers The more that people identified with the crowd
the more that they talked to strangers
Drury, Novelli & Stott (2014) Euro J Social Psych

28. When there is shared social identity in the crowd…
3. There is more likely to be social support
People give social support
People expect social support
Drury, Novelli & Stott (2014) Euro J Social Psych

29. Hajj
2015: pilgrims died at a crossroads near Mina

30. Hajj 2012
Holy Mosque: 356,800m2 (88.2 acres)
Total capacity: two million*
Average crowd density level of at least four people per square metre (4ppm2). Levels of density as people get closer to the Kaaba = 6-8ppm2
How does an event which routinely reaches dangerous levels density pass without crushing incidents?
Density (over 5ppm2) IS dangerous: shock waves (Still, 2014)

31. Survey of 1200 pilgrims in the Holy Mosque 7 languages Results:
People felt safe
Predictors:
Identification with the crowd
Perceived/expected social support
Management competence
Alnabulsi & Drury (2014) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

32. High identifiers felt more safe the more dense the crowd!
Alnabulsi & Drury (2014) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

33. Expected support made people feel safe
Alnabulsi & Drury (2014) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

34. For example: Mexican wave
4. Coordination
If there is shared understanding and expected support for valued group behaviour…
For example: Mexican wave

35. Emotion
‘Positive atmosphere’ is common when there is shared social identity in a crowd
Survey: Bestival, Secret Garden Party, Boomtown (2015)
more identification, more ‘atmosphere’
Novelli, Drury, Reicher, & Stott (2013) Plos One

36. Why are crowd events often positive emotional experiences?
1. Validation
Shared perspective:
Others validate our perspective – which feels good!
2. Empowerment

37. Empowerment In everyday life, most people are not powerful
In a crowd where:
others feel the same way
there is social support for actions
Actions become possible for the first time
Having power, which we gain through being supported by a collective, feels good!
Drury, Cocking, Beale, Hanson, & Rapley (2005) Bri J Social Psych

38. Summary so far
Effects of shared social identity (being part of a psychological not a physical crowd) include:
There is shared understanding
People talk to strangers
There is social support
People coordinate their actions
‘Positive atmosphere’/emotion

39. Not all crowds are joyful
BUT
Not all crowds are joyful
certainly not for those in conflict with them!

40. Identities and norms
Each social identity has a different set of values and norms
Norm = guide to conduct, what ‘we’ regard as appropriate behaviour

41. Identities and norms Football match norms Lecture theatre norms
Rules of the mosh pit
… only for those that identify!

42. 5. People adhere to their own group’s norms
When there is shared social identity in the crowd…
5. People adhere to their own group’s norms

43. Greater identification → greater conformity to norms
Queuing behaviour
The more we see the queue as a ‘we’
The more we believe that orderly queuing is appropriate conduct for us
Conversely: If we’re all ‘just individuals’, competition is more likely
Drury, Cocking & Reicher (2009). Bri J Social Psych

44. Key message Social identities are the key to understanding:
Crowd behaviour in general
How crowds behave in emergencies
Using psychology in successful crowd safety management