I was thinking more along "being correct about change you're supposed to get in a shop" than "being correct about what to do in a fire", but still, I said people learn. Life-or-death situations are pretty rare and an individual is unlikely to experience them enough times to learn from them (much less if any small mistake leads to the tragic outcome). So the learning happens at the institutional level (fire departments are pretty smart about what to do in a fire), and best individuals can do is get trained.
Hard disagree there. In genuine life-or-death scenarios, the two most common reactions are blind panic and denial. If you're unlucky enough to find yourself in a smoke-filled aeroplane cabin on an airport runway, your fellow travellers will probably do one of two things - frantically stampede towards the exits, or calmly gather their belongings from the overhead bins. Increasingly, you'll see people moving towards the flames to film them on their phone.
Even after people have repeatedly experienced a disaster like a flood, hurricane or wildfire, they often deny the possibility of a recurrence.
https://www.newsweek.com/disaster-and-denial-194880