Are you better than average?

Are you a sheep, sheepdog, or a wolf? The latter two categories each comprise about one percent of the world's population, according to a theory offered by a man named Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. The rest of us are mostly sheep, however some of us may choose to become sheepdogs in certain situations.

it’s simply to say that most people want to get along with others, are inclined to go with the flow and not make waves, and aren’t regularly faced with dangerous or truly unethical situations and thus don’t know how to behave when they are.

First responders call this tendency to act like everything is fine during traumatic events “negative panic.” Psychologists call it the normalcy bias. Brett and Kate McKay write

Your brain is predisposed to assume that things will be normal and predictable all the time. When things aren’t normal, it takes our brain a long time to process this. Instead of springing to action when something unexpected happens, our brain kind of shrugs and figures that what is going on can’t be so bad, because truly bad events are so out of the ordinary. Many people who witness traumatic events report that it felt surreal, like they were watching a movie and it wasn’t really happening.

Second, there is the bystander effect.

Our inclination to help or take action when we see a threat or a need diminishes whenever we’re part of a group. You think that someone else in the group will do something, so you hold back. The problem is, that’s exactly what everyone else in the group is thinking too. With everyone waiting for someone else to do something, no one does anything.

Third, We Overestimate Our Ability to Thrive in Dangerous Situations.

Fourth, We Have a Tendency to Conform.

One of the mechanisms we’ve evolved to ensure we can attach ourselves to a group and not be ostracized from it is conformity. As Westerners, we like to think that we’re unique individuals who can rise above peer pressure (and that peer pressure only exists as part of the DARE curriculum), but we’re not. Conformity is “our default mode,” as psychologist Noam Shpancer points out. We instinctively hone in on social cues and the body language of others and adapt our behavior to mirror them so we gain acceptance.

Fifth, We Operate from a Herd Mentality.

Sixth, We Depend on Authority Figures to Make Decisions.

Seventh, We Don’t Know How to Handle Stress.

Eighth, We’re Not in Shape.

So, what can we do?

The best you can do is commit yourself to training and preparing your physical, ethical, and mental abilities to their fullest extent, so that when you do face a crisis, you give yourself the best possible chance to be a sheepdog instead of a sheep, to lead with skill, wisdom, and honor rather than blindly following.