In trying to understand the evacuation of the World Trade Center when it was first bombed in 1993, B. E. Aguirre, Dennis Wenger, and Gabriela Vigo argue that the more "the search for meaning in the milling process focuses upon defining the situation as serious, the quicker should be the mobilization of people and the initiation of collective behavior." What type of theory are they using to make this prediction?

Emergent norm theory

Explanation: The emergent norm theory could be explained as the energy, discipline and panache which surrounds a particular situation. When there is a situation at hand, the extent at which the issue or situation is managed hinges on the social interaction or atmosphere within the crowd or pool of participants. It defines the importance, seriousness and norm exhibited by members who make up the pool or crowd. The crowd behavior reverberates around individual members and as such influences their behavior by adopting or following the trend due to the nature of the circumstance at ahead which has given rise to a change in the individual attribute or character of the people.