The Model Of Behavioral Process And How The Occupants Use The Phases (Essay Sample)

Human behavior in fire
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Human behavior in fire
According to the human behavior research, the actions taken by individuals in particular circumstances are due to a decision made but not because of any changes occurring to the surroundings. In the case of any disaster such as building fires people usually perceive certain signals and then after interpreting such signals, they make decisions concerning further actions which should be taken to respond to the signals. This paper will discuss the different phases of a conceptual model of the behavioral process of building fires (kuligowski, 2008).
The first phase of the behavioral process is the perception phase. In this phase, the people inside the building are able to sense the change of the environment through both physical and social signals. Some of the signal physicals which may be perceived include flames of fire or even smoke from the nearby rooms. They may perceive signals of danger from actions of the others, for example, people shouting for help or even running to save their lives. The social signals may be either text messages or even phone calls from those people outside the building. (kuligowski, 2008). This phase is however affected by several factors which determine whether the people occupying the building will perceive these signals. For instance, a person with a previous experience of fire will be in a good position to perceive any kind of alarm compared to a person without such an experience. Also having the knowledge of fire signals may help a person to perceive them faster than anyone who does not have any knowledge.
The second phase is the interpretation phase. In this phase when the people occupying the building perceive signals, they try to analyze this information from the alarms. During this phase, people think of whether the alarms are basically false or whether they are genuine alarms indicating there is a fire in the building. They also think of any possible dangers which can be caused by fire to themselves or even to the other people in the same building. For the occupants to interpret the situation as a fire the signals should be very serious such as smoke and flames. Therefore the way people interpret the situation depends on the perceived signals and how serious they appear to the occupants. (kuligowski, 2008). For example, if it’s the first time for a person to hear a fire alarm in the building then they will definitely be sure there is a serious fire in the alarm.
The third phase is the decision making phase. In this phase the occupants’ makes decisions on the next actions to be taken which depends on their interpretation of the current situation and the possible dangers. Making decisions will include coming up with several options on what to do to save the situation (kuligowski, 2008). For example, if the occupants have interpreted the situation as a serious fire then they can decide to leave their things and run towards the door in order to save their lives. They can also decide to shout so that the other people in the b...