Biopsychology: The fight or flight response

Question 1

What’s the fight or flight response?

Answer 1

The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee.

Question 2

Which part of the brain is stimulated when an individual is faced with a threat?

Answer 2

Amygdala

Question 3

What does the amygdala associate sensory signals with?

Answer 3

Emotions associated with fight or flight
eg anger and fear

Question 4

What do amygdala send the distress signal to? 1)

Answer 4

The hypothalamus

Question 5

What happens when the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is triggered? 2)

Answer 5

The process of preparing the body for the rapid action necessary for fight or flight.

Question 6

What does adrenaline do as it circulates through the body? 3)

Answer 6

A number of psychological changes:
- Heart beats faster
- Pushing blood to the muscles, heart and other vital organs
- Blood pressure increases

Question 7

What happens when the threat has passed? 4)

Answer 7

Parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system dampens stress response.

Question 8

What does the parasympathetic branch do? 5)

Answer 8

Slow down the heartbeat again and reduces blood pressure.

Question 9

What happens if the brain CONTINUES to percieve something as threatening? 6)

Answer 9

The second system kicks in… HPA axis.

Question 10

What does the HPA axis consist of? 7)

Answer 10

The hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal glands.

Question 11

What does the hypothalamus do in the fight or flight response?

Answer 11

Releases CRH

Question 12

What does the pituitary gland do in the fight or flight response?

Answer 12

Releases ACTH into the bloodstream, and from there to its target sites.

Question 13

What do the adrenal glands do in the fight or flight response?

Answer 13

ACTH stimulates the adrenal cortex to release various stress-related hormones, including cortisol. Cortisol is responsible for several effects in the body that are important in the FOFR.

Question 14

What is the feedback system? 8)

Answer 14

Cortisol levels are monitored so that CRH and ACTH production is inhibited if cortisol is too high.

Question 15

A03:

Answer 15

+ The tend and befriend response.
+ Post modern view
- Fight or flight doesn’t tell the whole story.
- Gender bias

Question 16

A03: The tend and befriend response.

Answer 16

The fight or flight response is typically a male response to danger and more recent research suggests that females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful/dangerous situations. According to Taylor et al. (2000), women are more likely to protect their offspring (tend) and form alliances with other women (befriend), rather than fight an adversary or flee. Furthermore, the fight or flight response may be counterintuitive for women, as running (flight) might be seen as a sign of weakness and put their offspring at risk of danger

Question 17

A03: Fight or flight doesn’t tell the whole story.

Answer 17

When faced with a dangerous situation our reaction is not limited to the fight or flight response; some psychologists suggest that humans engage in an initial ‘freeze’ response. Gray (1988) suggests that the first response to danger is to avoid confrontation altogether, which is demonstrated by a freeze response. During the freeze response animals and humans are hyper-vigilant, while they appraise the situation to decide the best course of action for that particular threat.

Question 18

A03: Gender bias

Answer 18

Early research into the fight or flight response was typically conducted on males (androcentrism) and consequently, researchers assumed that the findings could be generalised to females. This highlights a gender bias within this area of psychology as psychologists assumed that females responded in the same way as males until Taylor provided evidence of a tend and befriend response.

Question 19

AO3: Postmodern view

Answer 19

While the fight or flight response may have been a useful survival mechanism for our ancestors, who faced genuinely life-threatening situations (e.g. from predators), modern-day life rarely requires such an intense biological response. Furthermore, the stressors of modern-day life can repeatedly activate the fight or flight response, which can have a negative consequence on our health. For example, humans who face a lot of stress and continually activate the sympathetic nervous system, continually increase their blood pressure which can cause damage to their blood vessels and heart disease. This suggests that the fight or flight response is a maladaptive response in modern-day life.