WHY WE RAN OUT OF GAS

A pair of hurricanes turned the spigot down on gasoline flows to metro Atlanta, but it was a spike in consumer demand that has nearly emptied the tank.

It resembles the rush to buy bread and milk that seems to seize Atlantans with each snow forecast. And it springs from the same human impulse.

To get at the human motivations behind the gas lines and shutdown of stations, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked with Gregory Berns, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University and author of “Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently.”

Q: How do you describe the situation?

A: What you are seeing is panic behavior. The interesting part is herd behavior, which is ruled by … fear. Fear of not having gas to get to work. Fear of not having gas to pick up the kids.

When people are afraid, they will take whatever actions are necessary to protect themselves. You can argue that it is irrational, but that doesn’t really matter.

Q: But all these people weren’t aware of closed refineries and shuttered rigs in the gulf, were they?

A: It seems to me that [the fear] comes from seeing that other people are afraid, then a few stations run out of gas, then more people are afraid, then more stations run out of gas and it snowballs.

Not everyone had the impulse response that because of a hurricane you needed to get gas. But when you see other people doing that, you start to question your view of the facts.

We see the crowd and we assume that everyone else is right. The perception of what is rational and what is irrational becomes blurred very quickly when you see a large number of people doing something.

Q: Not everybody jumped right into a gas line.

A: Different people have different perceptions. One person looks at the line and thinks, “Those people are idiots.” And the other person thinks, “I am the idiot for not getting into line.”

When we look at the world, we tend to look to other people to help resolve the uncertainty about what to do. When a large number of people do something, it sways our perception. We have a fear of being the odd person out.

What distinguishes the sheep from the nonsheep? There’s a variety of factors. More information can help, but I think this is still a panic response.

Q: Is there a human tendency toward hoarding?

A: Yes, yes, absolutely. There’s the initial kernel of fear that set this off. And the fear gets fueled by the panic of seeing other people.

Q: The industry folks say we could get by if people would cut back. What would you suggest?

A: There’s the heavy- handed approach which would not be my solution. That would be rationing —- but that would fuel the panic even further. It would be more effective to mandate a minimum of say, 10 gallons. That would prevent topping off.

You have to target the behavior that is causing the problem. If the problem is caused by topping off and hoarding, you ban that and the problem will go away.

Q: Is there anything you can do to get at the psychology behind the behavior?

A: The way to flip this around very rapidly is to capitalize on social cohesiveness. To have people stand up and socially ostracize people who are topping off.

It takes a few iconoclasts to call people out for being bad citizens. You need a leader to stand up and say that this is bad behavior. You are being bad citizens.

Q: There have been reports of fights breaking out at gas stations. …

A: I am not surprised. The reality is irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is what people believe. Violence is the result of the fear system being activated.