In stressful situations, are you more inclined to fight, flight or freeze?!
Question: What are the exceptions to your answer?
Answers: What are the exceptions to your answer?
I've always been a passive person and only over the last few years have I been more assertive.
My family was very mellow if not cold when it came to expressing any emotions.( I've been told this comes from having German ancestry.)
The area I was raised and still live in is the nicer part of town and becoming violent among peers was almost unheard of. Any violence in the home must of been kept quiet because in my area you never hear neighbors arguing.
Based on how I was raised I have a problem with yelling, confrontations, and intimidation. (I never even heard my parents yell at each except maybe once).
So for the most part I freeze when in a stressful situation. The only time I don't freeze is when someone keeps trying to argue with me (I never learned how to argue) about something in such a way that makes the issue impossible to resolve, this is when I can get violent.
My tendency is to fight if the stressor is known at all. If not I freeze temporarily until I can figure out what the danger is then face it.
fight without thinking about it. just instinct....
freeze/ fight and cuss out/tell off those around me
It's different for every person based on how they've been programmed or re-programmed. It is a reflex and happens without thinking.
There are ways to change your responses though. Martial arts and yoga both cause more desired reactions for example.
Stessful situations are more likely to cause freezing: dangerous ones attack or fleeing.
definately fight, in extreme situations i simply ''see red'' and cannot control myself.. which i think is horrible.. sometimes i wish i had the tendancy to freeze so i can step back, take a breathe, and find the best way to deal in the situation
It really depends on the situation.
My initial reaction is the access the situation to see which one is going to be most effective. Appropriateness does not come to mind first, but effectiveness of difusing the situation. If the stressful situation is someone following me or the chance of attack, my initial accessment is to fight back. To get aggressive and possibly scare them away.
I have been robbed at gunpoint a few times. As long as the robber was only after money I just did as I was told. When the fist robber told me to take off my clothes I argued with him (fight).
The second time I got robbed by gunpoint the robber was apologetic and only asked for the money. I gave him what he wanted and he left, then I called the cops. That time I really wanted to run away, but I was afraid he would shoot me on the way out the door.
The last time I got robbed it was by knifepoint and was a real professional guy. He kept crouched so the cameras would not get his actual height, he talked really low so the mic wouldn't pick up his voice and had gloved, mask, and jacket on before he came in the door. This time I froze because he was so professional and I knew he would kill me if I dind't do exactly as he said. I was able to work through the freeze to do exactly as he asked, but I couldn't think clearly.
Just so you know I don't work in the convenience store anymore.
If I'm in physical danger or think I am, I'm more inclined to freeze because that was how I was taught when I was little. If you fought back against danger then that put you in more danger, so I learned to stop that. If I'm just stressed out over something that needs to be done, I'm more inclined to flight until I stop stressing about it, then I'll fight. I can't really think of any exceptions to this.