Fight v Flight

• What is the purpose of the fight v flight response?

  To prepare the body for action when faced with a threat. Happens quickly before brain fully processes what is happening
• Stages of entering a stressful situation:

  1. Amygdala sends a distress signal to hypothalamus
  2. Hypothalamus receives distress signal and activates (sympathetico)-adrenal medula (SAM pathway)
  3. SNS activation stimulates adrenal medulla
  4. Adrenal medulla releases adrenaline /noradrenaline into bloodstream
• What does the hypothalamus do during the response?

  • associates sensory signals with emotions
  • Activates adrenal medulla
• How does the body respond?

  • increases heart rate
  • Increases blood pressure
  • High respiration rate (breathing rate)
  • Increased sweating
  • increases blood sugar/glucose level (glucose release triggered)
• Why do heart rate and blood pressure increase ?

  Heart can push blood to muscles and organs more efficiently to ready the response
• Why does the breathing rate increase ?

  To get more oxygen to the lungs. This is transferred to the bloodstream which the heart pushes the oxygenated blood to organs
• Why is there increased sweating?

  Keeps us cool during the response
• Why is glucose release triggered?

  Supply more energy
• Other body responses (extra):

  • pupil dilation (more light= focus on threat)
  • Bladder constricts (urge to urinate)
  • Digestion slows
• What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

  Brings everything back to normal and balances the bodily responses after threat has passes (re-established homeostasis)
• Strength - Evolution

  Fight v flight responses to genuine threats (e.g. poisonous snakes) make more sense as they developed to help ancestors survive
• Weakness - Evolution

  • These responses (to genuine threats) have become disproportionate for modern day stressors
  • These responses are maladaptive in situations like exams / job interviews and can be an overreaction
• Weakness- Ethical dilemmas

  • protection form harm in research including purposeful threat responses is not always possible
  • This means that research may be limited
• Weakness - Tend + befriend (alternative explanation)

  • Taylor eat al
  • Females suggested to adopt this approach
  • This is because fight v flight wasn’t always possible due to caring for offspring / pregnancy (gender bias)
  • ‘Tend‘ to their young, ‘Befriend‘ other women to form protective alliances
• Weakness- Freeze response (alternative explanation)

  • Gray 1988
  • Reaction isn’t limited to flight v fight
  • Instead might appraise and process the situation (freezing)
  • This takes thinking and cognition into account so is less reductionist
• Weakness - Narrow explanation

  • implied to be negative response and a response to threat for individuals
  • Research has found that the response isn’t always one of looking out for yourself
  • Von Dawans (2012)- acute stress can lead to greater cooperation between individuals