With us, for us, or against us : how group relations between safety personnel and the public impact enjoyment, felt safety and behaviour at crowd events

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Templeton, Anne and Smith, Kayleigh and Vo, Sam and Alhajri, Waleed and Hinata, Sayaka and Nash, Claire and Tong, Yunhe and Neville, Fergus (2026) With us, for us, or against us : how group relations between safety personnel and the public impact enjoyment, felt safety and behaviour at crowd events. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 20 (3). e70132. ISSN 1751-9004 (https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.70132)

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Abstract

Psychological crowds of people gather to watch live events, perform religious rituals with fellow pilgrims, protest injustices, and provide support in emergencies. A growing area of research has explored how the relations and interactions between crowd members shape their perceptions and behaviour at the events. However, a comparatively under researched area within crowd psychology is how the experiences and behaviour of people in those crowds are shaped by their relations and interactions with safety personnel. Here, we examine the contributions and areas for development of research into intergroup relations between crowd members and safety personnel, focusing on how these interactions affect crowd members' enjoyment of events, felt safety, and behaviour. We explore how these processes manifest across a range of crowd contexts: religious mass gatherings and live event performances, organised protest marches and other direct-action events, and emergencies. Throughout, we spotlight areas for future research to enhance our understanding of relations between crowd members and safety personnel, and routes to improve safety and positive experiences at crowd events.

ORCID iDs

Templeton, Anne, Smith, Kayleigh, Vo, Sam, Alhajri, Waleed, Hinata, Sayaka, Nash, Claire ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5495-8244, Tong, Yunhe and Neville, Fergus;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)