the.com/normalcy bias
the brain insists tomorrow will resemble yesterday, even as the building burns down.
means a cognitive bias where people underestimate the likelihood and impact of a disaster because they assume things will keep functioning as they always have.
from named by disaster researchers studying survivor behavior, notably after observations of the 1977 world trade center fire studies and cold war civil defense planning, where officials noticed people delayed evacuating because their minds refused to process the abnormal as real.
titanic passengersmany stayed calm, believing the unsinkable ship couldn't be sinking
evacuation delaysurvivors often wait 5 to 10 minutes before moving
also calledanalysis paralysis or the ostrich effect, loosely
opposite failurepanic, which overreacts instead of underreacting
for instance
titanic 1912 — passengers kept playing cards as the ship listed
pompeii ad 79 — many residents stayed put despite days of tremors
hurricane katrina 2005 — thousands ignored mandatory evacuation orders in new orleans