fight and flight?

March 23, 2005 6:54 PM

Is there a term for a moment when both the fight and flight response occurs?

For instance, when someone honks a horn when I am near, it simultaneously makes me want to punch them and run away. Interrobang and I couldn't come up with anything this morning and my wife has told me that it's the same response and that it just depends on evolution. Is that correct? Is there a term? What would be a good term if there isn't one?

posted by sleepy pete to Writing & Language (10 answers total)

It's "fight OR flight" and so-called because it's a set of responses in your sympathetic nervous system that ostensibly prepare your body to defend itself and/or run away. I suspect your confusion results from changing the "or" to an "and".

See here.
posted by biscotti at 6:59 PM on March 23, 2005

Your wife is right that it's the same response. But I don't know what she means by "it just depends on evolution".
posted by biscotti at 7:00 PM on March 23, 2005

The internet version is usually called, "*head asplodes*"

Note that my "head" didn't "asplode"... that's just what the situation you're describing is called.

Now, as I said, that's the internet version of the phenomenon. As far as real life goes... I'm woefully underequipped to advise you about that.
posted by BoringPostcards at 7:50 PM on March 23, 2005

What his wife (aka me) meant was that humans evolved to fight or flee, just like you said, biscotti -- but thanks for finding the googly moogly to back it up.

What I didn't know (and still don't) is if there's a term other than "fight or flight" that suggests an even split for both impulses, and the inner conflict that results as you decide whether to put on your boxing gloves or your Nikes, but "head asplodes" is a good start.
posted by melissa may at 7:59 PM on March 23, 2005

A squid squirting its ink and swimming away comes to mind. In your case, however, I would guess that it's a matter of your brain trying to decide which is the best defense for you and it turns out that the fight and flight strategies are both considered as close runners-up to what you actually end up doing (assuming you didn't follow through on either).
posted by foraneagle2 at 8:54 PM on March 23, 2005

The lay term is adrenaline rush.

The 'fight or flight response' is, I think, a pretty well accepted term in medical circles. Or as wiki suggests here: 'acute stress response'. Biscotti's link nails it anyway.
I don't know that there's any specific term referring to the "split for both impulses" - fight/flight is more of a description of potential rather than being an accurate either/or situation.

[Something on this subject came up here recently just by the by.]
posted by peacay at 8:58 PM on March 23, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers, everyone. They seem to be close, but I'm thinking "head asplodes" is closest, although I was hoping for something a little more, uh, sophisticated. I've never acted on either impulse, so my head is still intact (so to speak). And the squid image is accurate--if I could shoot ink at someone honking at me, then I probably would (although not in their face or anything, probably just at their tires so that it doesn't cause a stain). Thanks for the link peacay, guess I missed that one.
posted by sleepy pete at 10:13 PM on March 23, 2005

The "Moment of Truth"?
posted by Pressed Rat at 7:48 AM on March 24, 2005

I don't have time to look up the references, however, my wife's physiology and psychology books make frequent references to 'fight, flight or freeze'. The freezing part occurs when your body is torn between fighting and flying, so to speak, and simply freezes in indecision. You might find more info if you search for bioenergetics.
posted by widdershins at 9:33 AM on March 24, 2005

The fight or flight response is the domain of the sympathetic nervous system. Activation due to stress or startle (initiated by the brain) leads to varied physiologic responses including increased heart rate, dilated bronchioles (=more oxygen), dilated pupils, and shunting of blood from activities like digestion to the muscles and skin. You have thus prepared yourself to fight or fly. There is no implied decision. The choice to fight or fly is a much higher level function which takes input from many areas of the brain (all senses, memory). The "fight or flight response" makes sure that your body is immediately ready to do whatever your brain decides in the next few seconds.
posted by Corpus Callosum at 1:16 PM on March 24, 2005