ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that certain panics constitute "panics of affiliation"; that is, in certain circumstances "flight" behavior takes the form of attempts to affiliate with or stay close to leaders and companions. Stimulation-seeking, expressed as increased affiliative behavior, is likely be to be markedly increased, with a corresponding increase in susceptibility to social influence. Animal studies reported by W. A. Mason provide a further illustration of our point that, under certain circumstances, panic "flight" consists of affiliation rather than "self-preservative flight" from a physical or other form of danger. In the case of military "panics of affiliation", what needs to be shown is that, given some external threat, and the flight of a leader, the individuals who follow him in "panic" will stop if the leader stops, instead of continuing in headlong flight. This would show that proximity with the leader, rather than "individualistic flight" was the motivating factor in panic.
