BP - The Fight or Flight response

Question 1

What is the fight or flight response?

Answer 1

It is a response that evolved as a survival mechanism enabling animals and humans to react quickly to life-threatening situations
- Historically, our ancestors had more dangerous threats, whereas we have more everyday stress - the threat has changed

Question 2

The negative consequences of the fight or flight response

Answer 2

• The physiological response associated with fight or flight may be adaptive for a stress response that requires energetic behaviour
• However, daily stresses in modern life rarely require such physical activity
• The major problem is when the sympathetic nervous system is repeatedly activated, which increases blood pressure, leading to physical damage to the blood vessels eventually causing heart disease
• This suggests the system may no longer be adaptive for stresses we face today

Question 3

The process of the fight or flight response

Answer 3

When a threat or stressor is received by the amygdala in the limbic system, the hypothalamus prepares the body for action / emergency response by triggering activity in the sympathetic nervous system.
This also activates the sympathomedullary pathway which communicates between the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal medulla.
Therefore the body switches from its normal resting parasympathetic state to the physiologically aroused sympathetic state.
When the sympathetic nervous system is triggered it begins the process of preparing for the rapid action necessary for fight or flight; the sympathetic nervous system sends a signal to the adrenal medulla (part of the adrenal glands) which responds by releasing adrenaline.

Question 4

The process of the fight or flight response pt2

Answer 4

Adrenaline circulates throughout the body and causes a range of physiological changes that prepare the body for action.
Generally, adrenaline increases the supply of blood/oxygen to the skeletal muscles to prepare the body for physical action and increases the supply of oxygen to the brain for rapid response planning.
Specifically, adrenaline increases heart rate, respiration and sweat production and also constricts blood vessels, increasing the blood flow and raising blood pressure
Additionally, it diverts blood away from the skin, kidneys and digestive system so that non-emergency bodily processes are suppressed
Adrenaline also triggers the release of glucose and fats, which flood into the bloodstream, supplying energy to the parts of the body associated with the fight or flight response.

Question 5

The process of the fight or flight response pt3

Answer 5

Once the threat has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated and the physiological arousal associated with the fight or flight response decreases and returns the body to its resting state.
The parasympathetic branch of the ANS works in opposition to the sympathetic nervous system.
It reduces the activities of the body that were increased by the actions of the sympathetic branch e.g. heart rate decreases and digestion begins again.
Therefore the priority becomes energy conservation rather than expenditure and so this is sometimes called the rest and digest response.

Question 6

Evaluating with the fight or flight response - weakness

Answer 6

1. The physiological responses associated with fight or flight may be adaptive for a stress response that requires energetic behaviour (e.g. fleeing a lion) - however, the stress of everyday life rarely require such physical activity. The problem for modern humans is when the stress response becomes repeatedly activated, where a high blood pressure can lead to physical damage to the blood vessels and eventually 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
2. It has been suggested that the first phase of a reaction to a threat is not fight or flight, but is instead to avoid confrontation; instead, it is suggested that before responding with attacking of fleeing, most animals will frequently freeze, and 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

Question 7

Evaluation pt2 - Weakness and undermining research

Answer 7

3. During our evolutionary past - the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness - men and women had different roles in society (men would have been hunters and used their fight or flight response, women would have been protectors with the primary role of protecting children, and so women may have a completely different response system for coping with stress because of this.) Fleeing too readily at any sign of danger would put their offspring at risk, and so it would be more adaptive for women to have a ‘tend and befriend’ response, in which a threat is met with tending to their offspring and befriending other females to form protective alliances.
   - Studies have shown that females release oxytocin when under stress, and this suppresses the fight or flight response.
   - Therefore, there is a male bias and the assumption that fight or flight is a valid explanation of the stress response in all humans is a reflection of the bias towards male psychology

Question 8

Evaluation of undermining research

Answer 8

4. 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 a voluntary and joyful rite of passage (signalled arrival to manhood) and others were told the experience was traumatic and painful. They found that the heart rates of those in the first group increased, but those in the second group decreased.
   - This suggests that humans aren’t passive in the face of stressors or threats like the fight or flight response theory would assume - cognitions (assessing whether or not the stressor is a threat) are also important and therefore the theory is a limited explanation of our response to stress