Can someone become so shocked they appear calm?

Yes. It’s called “shock” and kills more people than anything else. It’s why when you treat a person for an traumatic injury, you first treat for shock by keeping them warm, even on a warm day, and elevating the feet/legs.

“Panic” is neither normal or useful. A preferred reaction is a full realization coupled with motivation to careful action.

Yes, people can be overcome with trauma to the point they shut down. That is better than panic, because at least they don’t get in the way of people trying to resolve the issue.

I think that attitude can carry people much further in life. Panic doesn’t help anything. You can be screaming on the inside but appear calm. You are in a better position to handle the problem if you can move and act in a controlled, confident manner. That behavior even helps the people around you by giving them confidence as well.

Panicked is normal and useful in the right time and place, guys. It galvanizes you into faster and stronger. That’s how prey sometimes manage to get away from a predator. They freakin’ panic! I’m not really one to panic, but I guess I’ve never been pushed that far, either.
Panic is useless in an airplane that’s plunging from the sky though. Could I stay calm? I don’t know.

But could you give us a specific example @mimi?

That would be a good question. Have you ever known someone to panic when it really wasn’t called for?

I had a secretary who panicked at the drop of a hat. We had a sophisticated smoke dectector at work that cut the power when it was triggered. When the lights went out, she screamed and ran out of the building, even though she was to call 9–1-1 while the guard and I did a preliminary investigation. Small electrical fire we extinguished with a fire extinguisher. FD finally came, everything was okay.

The secretary was scared to come back in the building.

Panic is NOT normal, is not helpful, and is NOT the flight or fight response.

@Dutchess_III and @everyone looks like I didn’t word my question very well. I wrote this before bed anyway. So here’s an example: John hears that his wife just died in a plane crash. John just nods and goes on with his daily activity as if nothing has happened. When asked about his wife he just says “oh, so she dies”. It appears that he is heartless but he is just too shocked at the news that he becomes numb. Does something like that ever happen?

Yes.
It happens a lot with kids because they are confused and processing slowly.

That means it’s possible that they don’t think of it as shocking event. They’re either think of it as predictable, have accepted their fate, or simply don’t care. Not everyone see ‘traumatic’ event as traumatic event, and even if they do, some people can manage to keep their composure and calmness from the outside (what’s inside is a different case). As funny as it sounds like, some people even laugh/smile when they’re in such situation, not because they think it’s funny but because that is their personal manifestation of sudden nervous breakdown or agony. It’s differ from person to person.

@zenvelo the secretary you described is ridiculous. Of course it doesn’t help in a situation like that especially when she’s one of the ones tasked with making sure the kids get out.
It can help when there is an actual threat, like getting kids, or yourself, out of a burning house by any means necessary, or running away from an attacker. It’s an instinct.

@Mimishu1995 it is kind of an odd response in that situation.

@Dutchess_III Panic is never good. Panic is “A sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause.”

It is not the same as a cortisol response, which really is instinctive. Panic is “not” instinctive.

What the OP is describing is someone being overwhelmed to the point of shutdown. It is different from being calm and clearheaded. People do shutdown, it happens in response to extreme loss, (like losing a family member) or surviving something horrific like a bombing.

I don’t know where you got your definition. I’ve never read that it’s a reaction to an imaginary danger. I’ve only thought of it as an intense fear that can cause you to do things you wouldn’t do other wise to save your self or save others, like, jumping out of the10th floor of a burning building or dropping your child out into the waiting arms of paramedics.

@Dutchess_III what you are talking about is not panic. Otherwise, people would not be upset about having a panic attack.

Consider that in a serious situation, the cooler heads, the first responder types say, “Don’t panic!”

And there is a reason for that. A thousand people stampeding for the door would kill people. I understand exactly what you are saying.
What I am saying, though, that assuming there is a real danger, panic can give you superhuman strength or speed. Rumor has it that people have been capable of picking up cars off of people. That is due to panic, not calm, level thinking.

I mean, what do you think the gazelle is feeling when it is desperately trying to outrun a lion?

THAT IS NOT PANIC! It is the cortisol response. Panic doesn’t give you strength to save your child, it makes you incapable of helping and not able to ask for help!

The gazelle isn’t panicking, it knows to run from the lion and it knows where to run to.

OK, @zenvelo. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one point.

Overall I do agree with you, though. Panicking in many situations is utterly useless, not to mention annoying as hell.

Oh yeah! Thanks @zenvelo. Shut down. I was trying to describe that but somehow the word just didn’t come to my mind.

I suppose First Responders do that all the time, however they are trained to act and repress the first response of panic. Action is required and I think some people panic because they don’t know what else to do in that situation, so taking first aide courses help them by giving them another alternative to just panic. Panic is fear and probably fear of NOT knowing what to do?
So that secretary and others in her work group should have Basic First Aide to be equipped with the wherewithal in situations of emergencies. All work and homes should have a First Aide kit instructions on how to respond and more importantly act in any given emergency in this present environment of tragedy.