Biopsychology
Question: Describe and evaluate the fight or flight response.
AO1: • Fight or flight response --> an automatic physiological reaction to
6 an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening.
- This becomes activated when an individual enters a stressful or
dangerous situation. This activates the amygdala, which is part of
the limbic system, which is associated with sensory signals of
emotion, fear, and anger.
- This sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus in the brain,
which activates the sympathomedullary pathway, which runs to the
adrenal medulla and the sympathetic nervous system.
- The adrenal medulla secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline into the
bloodstream which triggers a range of physiological changes to the
body such as an increased heart rate and breathing rate so that
blood flow and oxygen intake increase as well as pupil dilation to
increase light intake and sweat production to regulate temperature.
- This prepares the body for fight or flight by preparing us to
respond to a threat.
- Once the threat has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system is
activated which reduces these activities and returns the body to a
resting state.
AO3: • Suffers from gender bias
10 - Research indicates that the response is different in females than
in males (so the theory suffers from beta bias). Taylor et al
(2000) found that females’ response to a threat is more of a ‘tend
and befriend’ response to protect themselves and their children and
to form alliances. The assumption in previous research that women
and men respond to threats in the same way is limited by failing to
recognise that this degree of generalisability is unrealistic.
• Biologically reductionist approach
- The fight or flight response does not consider the influence of
other variables which can influence the response. Symington found
that conscious dying patients had a different response to stress
than patients who were unconscious. This suggests that the response
doesn’t entirely rely upon biology, but environmental and
psychological factors may play a role in the way that we respond to
stress. This indicates that the original idea is reductionist and
future research should be conducted to consider this explanation to
adopt a more holistic approach.
• Human behaviour isn’t limited to two responses
- Gray (1988) suggested that prior to the fight or flight response
people engage in actively avoiding confrontations of by ‘freezing’.
This helps people to stop, look and listen so they can become
hyper-vigilant to signs of danger and become more aware of their
surroundings to find suitable solutions to the threat. This limits
the fight or flight response as an explanation as it suggests there
are other stress responses that occur.
• Negative impact of health in modern times
- The fight and flight response has seen to be adaptive for the
stressful situations of the past that required energetic responses
such as encountering animal predators. However, stressors of modern
day rarely require such physical activity e.g. exam stress. Modern
day stressors tend to repeatedly activate the fight or flight
response which can result in increased blood pressure which leads
to physical damage to the blood vessels and heart disease. This
14
, suggests that the response may no longer be adaptive for stressors
we face today, making the theory lack temporal validity.
15
Question: Describe and evaluate the fight or flight response.
AO1: • Fight or flight response --> an automatic physiological reaction to
6 an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening.
- This becomes activated when an individual enters a stressful or
dangerous situation. This activates the amygdala, which is part of
the limbic system, which is associated with sensory signals of
emotion, fear, and anger.
- This sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus in the brain,
which activates the sympathomedullary pathway, which runs to the
adrenal medulla and the sympathetic nervous system.
- The adrenal medulla secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline into the
bloodstream which triggers a range of physiological changes to the
body such as an increased heart rate and breathing rate so that
blood flow and oxygen intake increase as well as pupil dilation to
increase light intake and sweat production to regulate temperature.
- This prepares the body for fight or flight by preparing us to
respond to a threat.
- Once the threat has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system is
activated which reduces these activities and returns the body to a
resting state.
AO3: • Suffers from gender bias
10 - Research indicates that the response is different in females than
in males (so the theory suffers from beta bias). Taylor et al
(2000) found that females’ response to a threat is more of a ‘tend
and befriend’ response to protect themselves and their children and
to form alliances. The assumption in previous research that women
and men respond to threats in the same way is limited by failing to
recognise that this degree of generalisability is unrealistic.
• Biologically reductionist approach
- The fight or flight response does not consider the influence of
other variables which can influence the response. Symington found
that conscious dying patients had a different response to stress
than patients who were unconscious. This suggests that the response
doesn’t entirely rely upon biology, but environmental and
psychological factors may play a role in the way that we respond to
stress. This indicates that the original idea is reductionist and
future research should be conducted to consider this explanation to
adopt a more holistic approach.
• Human behaviour isn’t limited to two responses
- Gray (1988) suggested that prior to the fight or flight response
people engage in actively avoiding confrontations of by ‘freezing’.
This helps people to stop, look and listen so they can become
hyper-vigilant to signs of danger and become more aware of their
surroundings to find suitable solutions to the threat. This limits
the fight or flight response as an explanation as it suggests there
are other stress responses that occur.
• Negative impact of health in modern times
- The fight and flight response has seen to be adaptive for the
stressful situations of the past that required energetic responses
such as encountering animal predators. However, stressors of modern
day rarely require such physical activity e.g. exam stress. Modern
day stressors tend to repeatedly activate the fight or flight
response which can result in increased blood pressure which leads
to physical damage to the blood vessels and heart disease. This
14
, suggests that the response may no longer be adaptive for stressors
we face today, making the theory lack temporal validity.
15
