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1 March 2005
Common
passenger disorders
Therapy
might
work
By Terry Riley
For me, travel is not just a process of getting from
point A to point B. As a psychologist, travel also provides me the opportunity to watch—and
wonder at—the behavior of people who are often out of their elements, sometimes out of their
time zones and occasionally out of their minds.
A rich and varied assortment of human behavior can be found on display while
transiting by air. Certainly, much of that behavior follows well recognized fundamental
principles of psychology. The dynamics of queuing, the management of personal space,
the protection of territorial rights,
the demonstration of narcissistic personalities, the causes of aggressive
behavior—this is all well
understood stuff.
Yet there are some behaviors displayed by my fellow passengers again
and again, the explanations for which I can only guess. Four of these seem
to be particularly common, so common in fact that I feel they need their
own special clinical labels.
So I've taken the lead in describing
these weird behaviors and their causes. (I call them "disorders" to give
them more of an official, medical, respectable overtone.)
Sooner Disorder (SD)
Passengers who suffer from SD are easy to spot. They queue up at airport departure
gates so they can be among the first to board their planes to claim a seat that has already
been assigned to them.
If the intention of these individuals were to board
early to lay claim to some extra overhead space for their luggage, their behavior
would make sense. (It would be rude, but would make sense). However the
majority of passengers displaying SD behavior are people who
are carrying little more than their tickets.
Psychological explanation of SD: As children, Sooners' parents repeatedly told them,
"If you aren't ready when we are supposed to leave, we're leaving without
you." And they did.
Rearversive Disorder (RD)
Rearversives have a strong aversion to
flying in airline seats that face toward the rear of the
airplane. It is understandable that passengers seated near windows much prefer
to be able to see what is coming rather than what has passed. Heck, so do
my
dogs, but this front-facing tropism occurs even when there is little or no
chance of seeing outside the airplane.
Psychological explanation of RD: It's not the physical orientation of
the body that is responsible for RD.
No, it's the unbearable anxiety caused by the increased chances of making
eye contact with other passengers when facing them.
Acute Deplania Disorder (ADD)
ADD is evidenced by passengers who immediately spring from their airplane seats as soon as their
airplane has reached its destination and arrived at its gate. (Sometimes
they jump up even before the airplane arrives at its gate.)
Once up,
filled with anxious energy, there they stand. They look toward the front
of the airplane restlessly waiting for somebody to move. They fumble with
their purses and briefcases. They drag luggage out of overhead storage
spaces thumping onto the heads of passengers below. They stick their butts in the
faces of still seated passengers. They are human bumper cars.
Psychological explanation of ADD: ADD is a common
psychophysiological condition whereby passengers
confined on an airplane for more than 30 minutes tend to forget that there
are a hundred other people who must use the same narrow aisle to egress
from their confinement.
Baggage Dash Disorder (BDD)
Immediately upon deplaning, Baggage Dashers tear off to the baggage claim area.
Their they stand at the designated carrousel, knees planted firmly against the
stainless steel waiting for their bags to arrive.
Psychological explanation of BDD: Dashers believe that their
quickness will somehow influence the pace of the airport's baggage
delivery system: Specifically, the sooner they arrive at the luggage
carrousel, the sooner their bags will be delivered. Poor souls.
Note
Finally, it should noted that SD, RD, ADD and BDD are often shared by the
same passengers. No surprise there.
If you suffer from any of these psychological disorders, feel free to
contact me for therapeutic advice. Just don't fly with me.
© 2005 Applied Psychology
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