Once an event is noticed, an onlooker must decide if it is truly an emergency. Emergencies are not always clearly (a) labeled as such; “smoke” pouring into a waiting room may be caused by fire, or it may merely indicate a leak in a steam pipe. Screams in the street may signal an attack or a family quarrel. A man lying in a doorway may be having a coronary ― or he may simply be sleeping off a drunk.
A person trying to interpret a situation often looks at those around him to see how he should react. If everyone else is calm and indifferent, he will tend to remain so; if everyone else is reacting strongly, he is likely to become alert. This tendency is not merely blind conformity; ordinarily we derive much valuable information about new situations from how others around us behave. It’s a (b) rare traveler who, in picking a roadside restaurant, chooses to stop at one where no other cars appear in the parking lot.
But occasionally the reactions of others provide (c) accurate information. The studied nonchalance of patients in a dentist’s waiting room is a poor indication of their inner anxiety. It is considered embarrassing to “lose your cool” in public. In a potentially acute situation, then, everyone present will appear more (d) unconcerned than he is in fact. A crowd can thus force (e) inaction on its members by implying, through its passivity, that an event is not an emergency. Any individual in such a crowd fears that he may appear a fool if he behaves as though it were.
* coronary: 관상 동맥증 ** nonchalance: 무관심, 냉담