The tend and befriend response
Type: Limitation
Study: Taylor et al. (2000)
- For females, behavioural responses to stress are more characterised by a pattern of tend and befriend than fight-or-flight
- This involves protecting themselves and their young through nurturing behaviours (tending) and forming protective alliances with other women (befriending)
- Women’s responses to stress have evolved in the context of being a primary caregiver of the children
- Fleeing at a sign of danger would put their offspring at risk
Negative consequences of fight or flight response
Type: Limitation
- Adapted to help when our lives are in danger/physical activity
- Modern stresses rarely require this physical activity
- The problem for humans is when this stress response is repeatedly activated
- i.e., increased blood pressure can damage blood vessels and eventually cause heart disease
- Too much cortisol can suppress the immune system
Fight or flight does not provide a complete explanation
Type: Limitation
Study: Gray (1988)
- Argues the first phase of reaction is not to fight or flee but to avoid confrontation
- Prior to attacking or running, most animals/humans typically display the ‘freeze response’
- the animal/human stops, looks and listens and is alert to the slightest sign of danger
- The adaptative advantages of this are that freezing focuses attention and makes them look for new information to make the best response for that threat