fight or flight

• Sam ate ham sandwiches and pickles

  Sympathomedullary pathway is activated

  Amygdala sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus

  Hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland

  Sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is activated

  Adrenal medulla is instructed to release adrenaline

  Physiological changes in the body occurs to fight or flight

  (change back to parasympathetic branch)
• reduction on non-essential functions like salivation during fight or flight

  increase energy for essential functions like heart rate
• why does fight or flight response stop

  detrimental to health to stay in it

  so the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system takes us into the rest and digest response
• P | limitation: fight or flight explanation is too simplistic 


  E: our reaction isn't limited to fight or flight and some psychologists suggest a freeze response

  • Gray (1988): first response is to avoid danger so we freeze

  E: in freeze we are hyper-vigilant and decide what is best to do

  L: fight or flight concept is too simple to explain humans' response to danger
• P | limitation: early research into fight or flight response was conducted on males (androcentric) & researchers assumed the findings could be generalised to females 


  E: highlights beta bias in this era as psychologists assume females responded like males

  E: Taylor et al (2010): women are more likely tend to offspring and befriend other women than fight or flee

  • response could be counterintuitive for women as flight could be seen as weak and put their offspring in danger

  L: limits fight or flight due to limited generalisability