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Psychological reactions and experiences among Swedish citizens resident in Kobe during the 1995 earthquake
Swedish Defence University, Department of Leadership and Management (ILM).
Swedish Defence University, Department of Leadership and Management (ILM).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9990-2877
1999 (English)In: International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, ISSN 0280-7270, Vol. 17, no 2, p. 185-205Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This paper discusses reactions and experiences of temporary residents and transients in a community struck by a major natural disaster. A retrospective questionnaire study was conducted among a group of Swedish citizens who were resident in Kobe during the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. Respondents describe aspects of their behavior before, during, and after the earthquake. The findings indicate that, as a group, the Swedes appear to have coped well, even though they were not well-prepared for this type of situation. One factor found to be related to the behavioral responses was ability to speak the local language, in this case Japanese. On the basis of the study results, some particular needs and resources of foreign residents are discussed.  

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
1999. Vol. 17, no 2, p. 185-205
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Ledarskap under påfrestande förhållanden
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-3275OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-3275DiVA, id: diva2:585169
Available from: 2013-01-09 Created: 2013-01-09 Last updated: 2022-03-11Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Human adaptation to danger
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Human adaptation to danger
2001 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The overall purpose of the thesis was to increase knowledge concerning how people adapt psychologically when faced with a real dan­ger incident, and what implications these reactions and adaptation mecha­nisms have upon immediate performance.

The thesis is based on three empirical studies concerning people with per­sonal experience of dangerous incidents. Swedish peacekeeping person­nel who were involved in shooting incidents or other highly threatening events participated in two of these studies. Swedish citizens who were living in Kobe, Japan, during the earthquake of 1995 partici­pated in the third study. Retrospective self-reports included both qualitative and quantitative approaches. More specifically, the research questions focused on the subjec­tive descriptions of personal reactions and performance during dan­gerous situations, the frequency of various reac­tions, and the individual and situ­ational factors that influence reactions and functioning.

On a general level, all groups seem to have performed well during the dangerous encounters they experienced. Severely dysfunctional reactions were rare, but general feelings of invulnerability were commonly reported. During these threatening situations, a partial loss of emotional balance and cognitive functioning was also common. Different individual and situ­a­tional factors appeared to interact with reactions and performance. Factors that were associated with lower performance included whether the danger incident implied a loss of control or if it demanded complex cogni­tive activity.

A fourth and purely theoretical study addressed how assumptions from Darwian, Freudian, and cognitive psychology are supported by empirical disaster research in explaining why people occasionally fail to adapt when danger is present. It was suggested that the different theories could be integrated into a model, in which adapta­tion mechanisms on different psychological levels could be included; from processes that are con­sciously controlled to automatic processes.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund: Lund University, Department of Psychology, 2001. p. 179
Keywords
Peacekeeping, Disaster, Earthquake, Life-Threat, Danger, Stress, Reactions, Performance, Adaptation, Coping
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Ledarskap under påfrestande förhållanden
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-3343 (URN)91-628-4711-2 (ISBN)
Public defence
2001-04-20, Lund University, 13:15 (English)
Supervisors
Available from: 2013-01-15 Created: 2013-01-11 Last updated: 2017-01-04Bibliographically approved

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Enander, AnnWallenius, Claes

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