We are coming up on the 100th anniversary of the launching (today, I believe) and the sinking, two weeks, later of R.M,S.Titanic, then currently the largest vessel afloat. During the sinking, something like 1500 passengers and crew were lost, while some 700 were placed in the inadequate number of lifeboats and were eventually saved.

The behavior of those involved was basically orderly and, indeed, heroic. Captain Smith went down with his ship and the final concert of the ship's band as the vessel sank is legendary. There were cowardly acts (apparently one dude donned women's clothing in an attempt to game the "women and children first" ethic) and it would be naive to think there wouldn't have been some violence, but fighting, struggling, and panic seem to have been minimized.

Somehow this seems contrary to the "Mad Max"model of behavior in a disaster, in which ravaging hordes will break into your carefully prepped stockade and help themselves when things go south.

The Titanic gives us a large scale event among perfect strangers in which many people pretty clearly chose "death before dishonor" and gave up their chance at survival in a real life situation, not a hypothetical exercise.

Not every disaster is the same, and circumstances will vary. We certainly are capable of extreme violence, just like all the other top of the food chain predators, but, in general, isn't the Titanic model the more likely for humans in a disaster?

I certainly don't have a definitive answer, but this is food for thought.