Crowd Chaos: Recognizing the Shift in the Collective Mood
Detecting baseline changes when you can't fully see what's happening
This article is for subscribers to The CP Journal's Academy.
Exercise Introduction
Situational awareness largely depends on what you're able to observe. Sometimes, the shift from Condition Yellow (general alertness) to Condition Orange (specific alertness) occurs when you spot an anomaly standing out from the baseline of a crowd.
However, you won't always have perfect visibility or positioning. You might not be able to sit with your back against a wall, watching entrances or windows directly. Instead, you might have limited sight lines or need to rely on other senses—hearing, for instance—to detect subtle cues that something in the environment has changed.
That’s the focus of this video-based exercise: sharpening your ability to recognize cues signaling an anomaly or a sudden shift in baseline behavior, even when your observations are limited.
A Bit of Background
The following video features Nicolae Ceaușescu, former General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, delivering his final speech in December 1989. Four days after this speech, Ceaușescu was captured, put on trial, found guilty, and executed amid the Romanian Revolution.