<p>We all want/wish to avoid heavily crowded places. There are a few such places we daily encounter - office closing hours traffic, heavy rush at the food counter at lunch time, bank closing hours, evenings in markets. </p>

<p>No one likes to stand in a queue or move at a snail's pace in a heavily crowded street. But why do we still find these rushes occurring every day ?</p>

<p>This either means that - </p>

<ul>
<li>Not everyone hates queues. There are people who will prefer going amidst heavy traffic. </li>
<li>Not everyone knows how to avoid these - which is quite hard to believe. Its common knowledge that if you leave by 6pm (or whenever your office ends) you will find huge rush on the main road. </li>
<li>Some people try to act smart(or try to bluff) - they think many people won't turn up at the peak hours fearing the rush, so let me go at the usual time. This is what "majority" of the people end up thinking and thus the rush happens again.</li>
</ul>

<p>[I can't think of any sensible reasons]</p>

<p>Is there any reasonable scientific/rationale explanation for the above phenomenon ?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-10T19:02:34.473Z
Because they _have_ to be somewhere at any given time? What motivates you to believe in a cognitive aspect?
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-11T05:06:58.203Z
@StevenJeuris It puzzles me where does the cognitive ability of people as a whole go when it comes to situations like the above ones. Frankly, IDK if its psychology or human behaviour or something specific to crowd response.
R11G
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-10T00:28:29.007Z
This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a sociological/general systems phenomenon.
Chuck Sherrington
<social-psychology><behaviorism><economics>
Why does not everyone avoid peak hour rushes?
R11G
# Why does not everyone avoid peak hour rushes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-06-10)

We all want/wish to avoid heavily crowded places. There are a few such places we daily encounter - office closing hours traffic, heavy rush at the food counter at lunch time, bank closing hours, evenings in markets.

No one likes to stand in a queue or move at a snail's pace in a heavily crowded street. But why do we still find these rushes occurring every day ?

This either means that -

* Not everyone hates queues. There are people who will prefer going amidst heavy traffic.
* Not everyone knows how to avoid these - which is quite hard to believe. Its common knowledge that if you leave by 6pm (or whenever your office ends) you will find huge rush on the main road.
* Some people try to act smart(or try to bluff) - they think many people won't turn up at the peak hours fearing the rush, so let me go at the usual time. This is what "majority" of the people end up thinking and thus the rush happens again.

[I can't think of any sensible reasons]

Is there any reasonable scientific/rationale explanation for the above phenomenon ?

**Tags:** social-psychology, behaviorism, economics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Because they _have_ to be somewhere at any given time? What motivates you to believe in a cognitive aspect?  
> **username_0**: @StevenJeuris It puzzles me where does the cognitive ability of people as a whole go when it comes to situations like the above ones. Frankly, IDK if its psychology or human behaviour or something specific to crowd response.  
> **username_2**: This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a sociological/general systems phenomenon.  

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## 0 answers

