The concept of the fight or flight response is a major component in all areas of psychology. As a result of this fact it is not surprising to learn that students in college have to master this concept in order to excel in their courses. In fact, it has been proven that the best students in the world all have a healthy aptitude for mastering the human body and the dynamics of the mind. Therefore, for people who are interested in the study of psychology, a healthy aptitude for nervous study is a must.
There are two major components to the fight or flight response. One is the physical fight or flight response that involves the accelerated acceleration of the central nervous system (CNS) to generate an extreme level of physiological arousal. This physiological response is designed to subdue any threatening stimuli that might overwhelm you before you can act. The other component is the cognitive fight or flight response, which involves the slower, more deliberate responses that you make to a perceived threat. Although both processes are designed to subdue the threat, they do it in different ways.
During the physical fight response, your body will experience elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and a host of other sensations to prepare you for action. During this time, your body will also experience what is called the fight or flight response, which involves the automatic association of pain and death with experiencing violence. In contrast, the cognitive fight response, or the reaction that follows the memory of a previous traumatic event, does not include these sorts of responses. This suggests that there is a much more fluid interaction between the conscious and the subconscious when it comes to the flight or fight response, and it is this interaction that has become the focus of much research in recent years.
The importance of this study lies in its ability to show how our interpretation of events, as well as our interpretation of others, can actually drive us into a corner. For instance, consider a situation in which you feel as though your life is in danger, and then consider an equally threatening situation where you merely think that you might be in danger. The first response, the fight or flight response, will cause you to overestimate the likelihood of your survival and will cause you to make overly dramatic and aggressive decisions. This overconfidence, coupled with your irrational fear of being hurt by your perceived threat, will lead you to act in ways that increase your risk of serious injury.
In order to understand this phenomenon, the researchers conducted a number of tests, interviewing a series of people who had suffered from either actual or perceived physical violence over the course of their lives. What they found was that the people who thought they were in danger actually were in fact feeling better about themselves, and did not feel the need to exaggerate their threats of violence. Those who exaggerated their fears, on the other hand, believed that they were in danger and thus made emotional decisions based upon this belief.
The key, according to the researchers, is to recognize that there are various types of anxiety. While the fight or flight response is automatic, the other types are more rational. When it comes to emotions such as happiness, sadness, frustration or guilt, the key is to recognize that the feelings are an indicator that our bodies have detected a change in our environment. When our bodies start to respond in a certain way, we can use our thoughts and behaviors to make adjustments so that we can live a happy, successful life. You can take these lessons to heart when it comes to handling feelings of anxiety or fear, and to better yourself in everyday situations.
