Topic Summaries

Fight or flight response

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Biopsychology > Fight or flight response
Previous Module
Next Module

Addiction

  • The fight or flight response is a biological human response to a detected stressor. Humans are built to have an immediate reaction when faced with danger: to stay and fight the threat or to run away.
  • Both the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system play major roles in this response. The sympathetic branch is activated when a stressor is identified.
  • The process of fight or flight response is:
    1. A stressor is identified but the hypothalamus and activates the parasympathetic branch of the ANS.
    2. The adrenal medulla releases adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream.
    3. The release of adrenaline leads to physiological changes in the body, such as increased heart rate, increased respiration and it diverts blood away from the skins surface and towards more vital organs.
    4. This is the fight or flight response which prepares the body for sudden reaction.
    5. Once the stressor has been removed, the parasympathetic branch returns the body back to normal.
  • Modern research suggests there may be more than just these two responses of fight or flight (e.g. the ‘fight, flight, freeze, fawn, flop’ model accounts for ‘freezing’ where a person cannot move against a threat, ‘fawning’ where a person seeks to please someone to avoid conflict, and ‘flopping’ where a person faints or becomes unresponsive when confronted by a threat).

Unlock Fight or flight response

Subscribe to SnapRevise+ to get immediate access to the rest of this resource.

Premium accounts get immediate access to this resource.

Previous Module
Next Module