FIGHT OR FLIGHT

• FOFR 


  When someone is threatened the body responds by preparing for action (e.g fighting or running away)
• HYPOTHALAMUS 


   helps coordinate this response.
• AMYGDALA 


  responds to the sensory input and connects it to emotions associated with the fight or flight response (e.g fear or anger). It sends distress signals to the hypothalamus.
• HYPOTHALAMUS 


  triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This stimulates the adrenal medulla within the adrenal glands, which releases adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream.
• HORMONES HAVE EFFECTS

  • Heart rate and blood pressure increase to get blood quickly to areas of the body where it's needed for respiration during activity.
  • Breathing rate increases so that more oxygenated blood can be sent to muscles.
  • Pupil size increases so more light can enter the eye for clearer vision.
  • When the threat has passed the parasympathetic dampens down the stress response, slowing down heartbeat and reducing blood pressure. It also allows digestion to begin again. 
• (-) FOFR - ‘Tend and Befriend response for females’ 


  TAYLOR ET AL suggest that for females, behavioural responses to stress are more characterised by a pattern of tend and befriend than fight or flight. This involves protecting themselves and their young through nurturing behaviours and forming protective alliances. Women having a different system for coping with stress may be because their response evolved in the context of being a primary caregiver of their children. E.g fleeing too early might put the females offspring at risk. 
• (+) FOFR 


  MCCARTY

  found that blood plasma levels of adrenaline were equal in rats of varying ages before subjecting them to electric shocks, but the older rats had lower levels than younger rats after being shocked. This suggests a diminished responsibility of the sANS and a reduced capacity of aged animals to adapt to stressful situations.
• (-) FOFR -  ‘There may also be a freeze response’

  GRAY

  argues that the first phase of reaction to a threat is not to fight or flee but to avoid confrontation. He suggests that prior to responding with attacking or running away, most animals typically display the ‘freeze response’. This initial freeze response involves the animal being hypervigilant, alert to the slightest sign of danger. The advantages of this response for humans is that freezing focuses attention and makes them look for new information in order to make the best response for that particular threat.