I am looking for a list of scenarios where doing the “instinctive” thing will actually backfire and make the situation much worse.
The ones that come to mind are:
If you have a grease fire in the kitchen, do NOT throw water on it; that will make the fire rage out of control suddenly and you will probably suffer massive burns.
If you are piloting an aircraft and it is in an aerodynamic stall, do NOT pull back on the controls; that will just make the stall persist.
If you are caught in a rip tide; do NOT swim against the current; you will exhaust yourself. You need to swim in a different direction that will take you out of the current.
If you face a wild wolf; do NOT run away, that will trigger the pursuit instinct and make the wolf pursue you. Walk away slowly backwards, facing the wolf.
If your clothing is on fire, do NOT run around; that will make the flames worse. Stop, drop, and roll on the ground to extinguish the flames.
If you are scuba diving, and you encounter a situation that causes panic (losing your regulator, etc.) do NOT rush to the surface of the ocean; that will give you the bends.
For a scenario that has less to do with physical harm: If you are arrested by the police, do NOT immediately loudly protest your innocence and tell “your story” after you have been Miranda’d; stay silent and demand a lawyer.
Mine are pretty tame (since they’re things I’ve done)…
Don’t stiffen up if you get blown too high while hang-gliding. This causes you to tilt the control bar and send you even higher. And stall. And then plummet.
The other one was explained to me by a Ski Patrol friend as I lay on my back in the middle of my first snowboarding experience: If you’re used to skiing, when you get going fast you instinctively sit back to slow down. Well, when you put your weight on your back foot, it wants to be the front foot and spins you around. And apparently down (hmmm, more plummeting… a lot of falling in my recreational career).
This isn’t acting “instinctively”; it’s acting stupidly and suicidally. I’d add anyone who disobeys evacuation orders during any natural disaster. It’s amazing how many people do idiotic things like this.
Don’t attempt to swerve around a deer that jumps out in front of you.
Don’t put your arm out to break a fall (like from a bike); much less chance of a broken wrist if you keep it in tight.
See, my instinct is to run toward the spectacularly interesting, once-in-a-lifetime natural show of force. Thinking it through to the consequences is what that overcomes that urge, sometimes.
I’m going to beat **Oakminster **to the punch and ask what the fuck I’m going out in the woods without my shotgun. But not before I shoot the wolf, as I was lying when I said I was out in the woods without my shotgun.
A car that goes into a front-wheel skid while turning will start to go straight. The instinctive thing is to turn the wheel more to try to make up for it. The right thing is to straighten out the wheel until the wheels start rolling again, and then re-start the turn.
