Fight or flight response

Question 1

What is the fight or flight response?

Answer 1

An evolutionary response of the body to stress. The body becomes physiologically aroused in readiness to fight an aggressor or flee

Question 2

What are the two main hormone released during the fight or flight response?

Answer 2

Adrenaline and noradrenaline

Question 3

What are the stages of the fight or flight response?

Answer 3

1. the amygdala sends an alarm signal
2. This triggers the hypothalamus to activate 2 response systems. HPA and SAM
3. The sympatho adrenal medullary (SAM) triggers the sympathetic branch of the autonomic system
4. The sympathetic branch stimulates the adrenal medulla which results in the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline
5. These hormones prepare our body for physical exertion e.g increases our heart rate
6. the parasympathetic branch reverses these changes, resting the heart rate and increasing digestion

Question 4

What is the parasympathetic branch known as?

Answer 4

Rest and digest

Question 5

what do adrenaline and noradrenaline do?

Answer 5

They prepare our body for physical exertion such as increase our heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, releases glucose into the bloodstream for energy and reduces digestion

Question 6

what part of the adrenal gland relaases adrenaline?

Answer 6

the adrenal medulla

Question 7

What is the parasympathetic state?

Answer 7

When the body is in its resting state

Question 8

What is the sympathetic state?

Answer 8

When the body is physiologically aroused

Question 9

What effects do adrenaline and noradrenaline
have on the body?

Answer 9

Increased heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and
respiration, releases glucose into bloodstream and
digestion is reduced

Question 10

What happens when the stressor has passed
and there is not longer a threat during the fight
or flight response?

Answer 10

The parasympathetic system reverses the changes made
by the sympathetic system

Question 11

What is the difference between an acute and
chronic stressor?

Answer 11

Acute= short-term and immediate
Chronic= Long-term

Question 12

What are the 4 limitations of the fight or flight responec?

Answer 12

The ‘tend and befriend’ response:
Has been suggested females, behavioural responses to stress
are more characterised by tend and befriend than fight or
flight → involves protecting their young through nurturing
(tending) and forming protective alliances with other women
(befriending). As women evolved in the context of being the
primary caregiver their system for coping with stress may be
different. Fleeing at any sign of danger would put a female’s
offspring at risk.
Lee and Harley (2012) found a genetic basis for gender
differences in the fight or flight response. The SRY gene,
found only on the Y (male) chromosome, promotes aggression
and results in the fight-or-flight response to stress. The SRY
gene may prime males to respond to stress in this way. The
absence of the SRY gene in females (who do not have a Y
chromosome) may prevent this response to stress, leading
instead to ‘tend and befriend’ response.

The ‘freeze’ response:
Gray (1988) → 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 display the ‘freeze response’. His initial freeze
response is a ‘stop, look and listen’ response, where the animal
is hyper-vigilant, alert to the slightest sign of danger.
Adaptive advantages are that ‘freezing’ focuses attention and
makes them look for new information in order to make the best
response for that particular threat. The fight or flight
response does not take this into account.

Positive rather than ‘fight or flight’ behaviours:
Vin Dawans et al. (2012) challenge the classic view that, under
stress, men respond only with ‘fight or flight’, whereas women
are more prone to ‘tend and befriend’.
Their study found that acute stress can actually lead to
greater cooperative and friendly behaviour, in both men and
women. For example, during the 9/11 terrorist attacks
cooperative and friendly behaviour was shown resulting in
human connections.

Negative consequences of the fight-or-flight response:
The fight-or-flight response is useful in response to situations
which require energetic behavioural responses. However, the
stressors of modern life rarely require such levels of physical
activity and this can be harmful on our body.
If the stress response is repeatedly activated. For example,
the increased blood pressure that is triggered by the
activation of the SNS can lead to physical damage in the blood
vessels and can eventually lead to heart disease.