How do most people react in life-or-death situations?

I hope you didn’t expect this to cheer you up…

“…our findings show that human behavior in life-and-death situations is best captured by the expression ‘every man for himself.'” (Hat tip: BPS)

Since the sinking of the Titanic, there has been a widespread belief that the social norm of âwomen and children firstâ (WCF) gives women a survival advantage over men in maritime disasters, and that captains and crew members give priority to passengers. We analyze a database of 18 maritime disasters spanning three centuries, covering the fate of over 15,000 individuals of more than 30 nationalities. Our results provide a unique picture of maritime disasters. Women have a distinct survival disadvantage compared with men. Captains and crew survive at a significantly higher rate than passengers. We also find that: the captain has the power to enforce normative behavior; there seems to be no association between duration of a disaster and the impact of social norms; women fare no better when they constitute a small share of the shipâs complement; the length of the voyage before the disaster appears to have no impact on womenâs relative survival rate; the sex gap in survival rates has declined since World War I; and women have a larger disadvantage in British shipwrecks. Taken together, our findings show that human behavior in life-and-death situations is best captured by the expression âevery man for himself.â