Behavior and attitudes under crisis conditions: selected issues and findings.

Final report

This research examines the nature and extent of changes in behavior and attitudes which are triggered by the actual and potential occurrence of crisis. Patterned behavior and attitudes, as manifest in daily routine and prevailing attitudes, are disrupted by conditions of crisis not only in response to hazard but in anticipation of potentially hazardous situations. These shifts reflect a human response to conditions of crisis that may be either adaptive or maladaptive. Adaptive behavior and attitude changes are those that help to minimize, or at least decrease the threat, if the threat cannot be minimized or decreased, and maladaptive attitude and behavior changes do not, even though they may be so intended.