fight or flight response Flashcards
What is the fight or flight response?
A sequence of activity in the body that’s triggered when the body prepares itself to fight or flight from a perceived threat
What does the sequence of activity caused by the fight or flight response involve?
changes in the nervous system and the production of hormones necessary to sustain arousal
What does the release of adrenaline in the fight or flight response do?
- sends blood to the muscles, heart, and organs
- increases blood pressure
- increases breathing
- releases blood sugar to supply more energy
What is the HPA axis?
A stress system in response to a continuous threat that doesn’t go away
What 3 things does the HPA axis consist of?
1: the hypothalamus
2: the pituitary gland
3: the adrenal glands
Why does Taylor et al believe that a negative of the fight or flight response is that females are more likely to undergo a ‘tend and befriend’ response instead?
Females have evolved to tend to their young and befriend other females when undergoing stress/a threat because women have always typically been primary caregivers (fleeing from children may put them at risk) so they react differently to men
Why is a negative of the fight or flight response that it can result in negative consequences?
There is little difference between the stress reaction to a genuine threat (causing death) and modern-day problems that cause stress. The stress response can be activated too often can cause physical problems (e.g blood pressure increases too much=damaged blood vessels=heart disease)
Why does Gray oppose the fight or flight response for being too simplistic and lacking the whole story?
He argues that there is an initial ‘freeze’ response to avoid confrontation before the fight or flight response, in which we use to make a decision on how we should react to the threat
