ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a review of theories of panic. Three experiments on panic have been conducted: those of French, Mintz and G. A. Kelley and his associates. R. Foreman proposes that panic is a type of rout, an ephemeral form of collective behavior. Foreman notes that common sequelae to panic include "fatigue and stupor, extreme anxiety, excitability and aggression, perhaps persistent terror and, not frequently, secondary panics". E. Quarantelli argues that panic is an acute fear reaction marked by loss of self-control, followed by "non-social and non-rational flight". K. Langs discuss panic in their book Collective Dynamics, under the heading "demoralization and panic". Smelser's Theory of Collective Behavior is a complex work of sociological theory that seeks to bring under a single framework various forms of collective behavior including panics, crazes, hostile outbursts, norm-orientated movements, and value-oriented movements. D. P. Schultz edited a collection of readings on panic that contained an original article on "Panic in organized collectivities".
