Fight + Flight

• FORF


  •When we experience a threatening or stressful situation, our bodies react in specific ways e.g. our hearts beat faster, our breathing becomes more rapid .These reactions to stressful situations are known as the fight or flight response. They occur when the body prepares itself for defending/attacking (fight) or running away (flight). It involves changes in the nervous system and the secretion of hormones that are necessary to sustain arousal.•The fight or flight response evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling animals and humans to react quickly to life-threatening situations.
• Diff States


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• The negative consequences of the fight or flight response

  •The physiological responses associated with fight or flight may be adaptive for a stress response that requires energetic behaviour. However, the stressors of modern life rarely require such physical activity. The major problem is when the sympathetic nervous system is repeatedly activated. The increased blood pressure can lead to physical damage to the blood vessels and eventually to heart disease. This suggests that the system may no longer be adaptive for stressors we face today.
• FOF


  The stress response starts in the HYPOTHALAMUS. This tiny gland stimulates the SYMPATHETIC BRANCH the autonomic nervous system. Therefore the body switches from its normal resting PARASYMPATHETIC state to the physiologically AROUSED sympathetic state.
• FOF


  The SNS stimulates the ARENAL MEDULLA to release the hormone ADRENALINE into the bloodstream. This produces physiological reactions linked with the FIGHT or FLIGHT response, such as increasing the supply of BLOOD and OXYGEN to the skeletal MUSCLES to prepare the body for physical action, and increasing the supply of oxygen to the BRAIN for rapid response planning. Adrenaline increases HEART RATE, RESPIRATION and SWEAT PRODUCTION, and inhibits DIGESTION as well as diverting blood away from the SKIN and KIDNEYS.
• FOF


  Once the threat has passed, the PARASYMPATHETIC nervous system is activated and the physiological arousal associated with the fight or flight response decreases and the body switches back to the resting parasympathetic state. Heart rate and blood pressure are REDUCED and DIGESTION begins again. This is sometimes called REST and DIGEST
• Eval Of FOF


  •Stressors of modern life rarely require such physical activity (e.g. worrying about exams). The problem for modern humans is when the stress response is repeatedly activated. The increased blood pressure can lead to physical damage to the blood vessels and eventually to heart disease.••This suggests that the response may no longer be adaptive for stressors we face today. However, it could be argued that it is still adaptive for some stressors or threats that we face today e.g. narrowly avoiding being hit by a car.
• Eval FOF


  •It has been suggested that the first phase of a reaction to a threat is not fight or flight, but is instead ‘FREEZE’•Most animals (including humans) typically display a ‘freeze’ response. This is essentially a ‘stop, look and listen’ response, where the animal is hyper-vigilant (alert to the slightest sign of danger).•This would have been adaptive for humans as it focuses attention and makes them look for new information in order to make the best response for that particular threat. Consequently, fight or flight may not be a complete explanation of our response to stress
• Eval FOF


  •During our evolutionary past, men and women had different roles in society.•Men would have been the hunters, so the fight or flight response would have been appropriate. Women would have been gatherers whose primary role was to protect themselves and their young.• This means that women may have a completely different response system for coping with stress because of this.
• Eval FOF


  •Speisman et al. (1964) asked students to watch a primitive and gruesome medical procedure (initiation rites involving genital mutilation) on film whilst their heart rates were monitored. Beforehand, some participants were told that the initiation rites were voluntary and joyful rite of passage (because it signalled the arrival into manhood); others were told that the experience was traumatic and painful. They found that the heart rates of those in the first group increased, but the heart rates of those in the second group actually decreased
• Eval FOF


  Cognitions (thinking whether the stressor is a threat or not) are also important and therefore the theory is a limited explanation of our response to stress