• Question: where does the fight or flight instinct come from?

    Asked by wisemanamy to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 19 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Hi wisemanamy!
      Fight or flight is a really good instinct that has helped us survive thousands of years in jungles and caves when things were really dangerous. When a big animal approached, we got scared, lots of adrenalin was produced in our body and we either froze on the spot so the animal maybe thought we were already dead, collecting lots of energy to fight it, or ran away really really fast to flee it.
      So humans that did’t have the fight or flight instinct were less likely to survive attack, and so it became part of our evolution.

      However these days it can be a bit annoying – I get really scared before exams, and the adrenalin makes me feel ill! 🙁

      Sarah

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