Ready response. An emergency reaction in which the body prepares for combat or escape from potentially dangerous situations, animals, or people.
Usage: Many nonverbal
signs (e.g., dilated pupils, sweaty
palms, bristling hair [piloerection], and a faster breathing
rate--along with squaring the
torso for battle or angling
away to prepare for flight) are visible in stepped-up visceral
feelings and body movements of the fight-or-flight
response.
Evolution. Fight-or-flight is an ancient
sympathetic response pattern which, in the aquatic
brain, accelerated heartbeat rate, raised blood-sugar level, and
released hormones from the adrenal gland, preparing an alarmed fish to
chase-and-bite, or to turn-tail-and-flee.
Facial color. Also
called the "fight, fright or flight" response, the sympathetic nervous system
may telegraph its state of mind in the whiteness (i.e., pallor) or
redness (flushing) of the face. Pallor, associated with extreme fear or
anger (rage), is caused by vasoconstriction
of the facial blood vessels, brought on by the release of large amounts of
adrenaline and noradrenaline. Associated with embarrassment or
slight-to-moderate anger, a flushed face (which may begin with a faint blush at
the top of the ears) is caused by vasodilation of the facial blood
vessels, due to adrenaline. (N.B.: Currently, the physiological
differences between fear and anger are not well
understood.)
Observation. Fight-or-flight cues (see, e.g.,
CUT-OFF, EYE-BLINK, EYEBROW-RAISE, FACIAL
FLUSHING, FLASHBULB
EYES, and HAND-BEHIND-HEAD) are visible not only in warfare and
physical combat, but also in corporate meetings around a conference
table.
Waiting. Human beings are easily angered when
they are kept waiting in airline terminals, hospital emergency rooms, and
heavy traffic. As adrenaline and noradrenaline levels rise, flyers, patients,
and commuters may be more prone to aggression and violence than when
permitted to move freely about. (N.B.: In England, more nurses are
attacked in emergency departments than in psychiatric wards.)
Neuro-notes. 1. In the 1920s, physiologist Walter
B. Cannon identified the sympathetic nervous system's emergency
reaction, which prepared the body to exert high levels of physical energy
(Cannon 1929). 2. In the 1930s, while stimulating regions of
the hypothalamus of the cat, physiologist W. R. Hess
identified the defense reaction, which included tendencies to fight or
flee. 3. The fight-or-flight response is coordinated by central
command neurons in the hypothalamus and brain stem which "regulate the
sympathetic outflow of both the stellate ganglion and the adrenal gland" (Jansen
et al. 1995:644). 4. ". . . the threshold for release of noradrenaline
[the 'anger hormone'] to psychological stimuli is generally higher than that of
adrenaline [the 'fear hormone']" (Mayes 1979:37).
Antonym: REST-AND-DIGEST. See also FREEZE
REACTION.
Copyright 1999 - 2016 (David B.
Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
Photo of Canada geese in flight (Spokane, Washington, USA) by Doreen K. Givens (copyright 2007)