http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/18/captain-schettino-costa-concordia
This is the "fight-or-flight response", where our bodies flood with a cascade of hormones that mobilise the body for action. If we are not running away from danger, then we may be lashing out in anger. It's the same response that some of us experience when cut up in traffic, triggering that all-to-common road-rage phenomenon.
The "flight" impulse is usually accompanied by blind panic. When we panic, reason and balanced evaluation of the situation is by-passed by escalating, disorganised thoughts of terror that automatically intrude into consciousness. There can also be a sense of depersonalisation, a feeling that everything around is unreal. In short, when we panic, we feel that we are out of control and not our old self.
That "self" is a narrative that we hold about who we are. When we consider our self, we hold beliefs about what we would do in certain situations. However, the story we generate and the action we end up taking do not always match. In moments of stress, some of us become cowards and some become heroes – and it's surprisingly hard to foretell who will become which.
Schettino's actions may seem spineless, but of course that is easy for us to say in the cold light of day.
Cruise liners are not supposed to sink so I expect that any training he did have was not one that captured the reality of the unfolding disaster last Friday. Given his chance again, I doubt Schettino would have done the same thing.
