The Fight Or Flight Response To Stress

Question 1

What is the title response?

Answer 1

When a person experiences a threatening or stressful situation, their body reacts in certain ways. The heart beats faster, breathing is more quicker and muscles tense. These reactions are known as the fight-or-flight response. This response evolved as a survival mechanism, allowing humans and animals to act quickly in life-threatening situations. The body changes associated with ‘fight or flight’ allow an individual to fight off the threat or flee (flight) to safety.

Question 2

What happens when a person is faced with a threat in the brain?

Answer 2

When a person is faced with a threat, an area in the brain called the amygdala is activated. The amygdala associates sensory signals (e.g. see, hear, smell, feel etc) with emotions associated with fight or flight, such as fear and anger. The amygdala then sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus, this is another part of the brain which functions like the command centre in the brain which communicates with the rest of the body through the sympathetic nervous system. The body’s response to stressors involves 1) acute (sudden) stressors and 2) chronic (ongoing) stressors.

Question 3

How does a sympathetic nervous system react to stress?

Answer 3

When the SNS is triggered, it begins the process of preparing the body for the rapid action necessary for the fight and flight. The SNS thus sends a signal through to the adrenal medulla, which responds by releasing a hormone called adrenaline into the bloodstream
As adrenaline circulates through the body, it causes a number of physiological (bodily) changes such as:
1) The heart beats faster, pushing blood to the muscles, heart and other vital organs, and blood pressure increases
2) Breathing becomes faster so that you can take in as much oxygen as possible with each breath
3) Blood sugar is released as well as fats, which flood into the bloodstream, supplying energy to parts of the body associated with the fight-or flight response

Question 4

What are effects of adrenaline ?

Answer 4

Increase heart rate to increase blood flow to organs and increase the movement of adrenaline around the body
Increase breathing rate to increase oxygen intake
Pupil dilation to increase light entry into the eye and enhance vision
Sweat production to regulate temperature
Reduction of non-essential functions like digestive system urination and salivation to increase energy for other essential functions

Question 5

How does the parasympathetic nervous system react to stress?

Answer 5

When the threat has passed, the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) dampens down the stress response. The PNS slows down the heartbeat again and reduces blood pressure. Also digestion begins again.

Question 6

Strength of fight and flight

Answer 6

1. The fight or flight response makes sense from an evolutionary psychology point of view because it would have helped an individual to survive by fighting or fleeing a threat. Also the threats in previous times would have been much more significant such as being confronted by a big bear and then experiencing fight and flight. So this is a very valid explanation.

Question 7

Weakness of fight and flight

Answer 7

1. 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. This is therefore a weakness of the fight and flight response because it does not take into account other responses
2. 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. However, Von Dawans (2012) has found that even males tend and befriend. For example, during the 2001 September 11th terrorist attacks both males and females showed tend and befriend as they tried to contact loved ones and help one another. This suggests that tend and befriend could now be a behaviour relative to both genders rather than females. The fact that recent research is recognising the gender similarities and differences in response to stress is a positive since researchers are avoiding showing beta bias
3. 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.