Fight-or-flight response

Fight -or -flight is a physiologist Walter Cannon of the U.S. (1915 ) coined term (english, fight or flight = fight or flight ). The term is also in the German language on the English version in the art commonly know as Cannon alongside Hans Selye one of the pioneers of stress research. The Fight -or -flight reaction describes the rapid physical and emotional adaptation of living beings in dangerous situations as a stress response.

The associated neurobiological processes beforschte Cannon in the reaction of animals to threat. Output of his scientific work was his interest in the backgrounds of the frequently occurring post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers during the First World War.

During the fight- or- flight reaction, the brain causes the sudden release of adrenaline, the heart beat, body force ( muscle tone) and breathing frequency increased. This provided power reserve provides the energy for survival -locking behavior that is appropriate to the stress situation: fight or flight.

At a constant load in addition stimulates the metabolism hormones, such as cortisol are formed by the adrenal cortex, since the adrenaline, but is now only briefly effective. For prolonged stress can lead to damage or collapse of the organism. (see also General Adaptation Syndrome )

Tend -and- befriend response

Recent research point out a difference in the stress response in men and women. The Fight -or -flight response meets both too, but is less pronounced in women, she locks herself in dangerous situations, for example, more protection offered to groups ( Cohen & Wills, 1985). In this context, Shelley Taylor coined ( psychology professor, University of California, Los Angeles) in the late 1990s, the term " Tend -and- befriend " as a possible answer to the woman on stress: the young guard ( tend ) and friend ( befriend ).