fight or flight
Confront or escape
Fight or flight is the body's automatic response to perceived danger—a surge of adrenaline that prepares you to either confront a threat or flee from it.
The phrase describes this primal survival mechanism: My fight or flight kicked in when I heard footsteps behind me.
It extends to any high-pressure situation demanding immediate reaction.
- adrenalineEmergency response hormone
- threatIndication of potential harm
- danger signalIndication of threat
- norepinephrineAlertness and stress hormone
- survivalRemaining alive against odds
survival mode · deer in headlights · reaction · gut reaction · defensive behavior · stress response · hypervigilance · cortisol · amygdala · catecholamines · instincts · autonomic nervous system · acute stress · life or death · self-preservation · panic · pulse · heart pounding
- animal behaviorsswimming, running, walking, jumping, flying
- lizard brainlizard brain, brainstem, survival instincts, fear response, instinctive behavior
- sympathetic systemsympathetic nervous system, adrenergic receptors, norepinephrine, epinephrine, adrenaline
- animal behavioranimal behavior, instincts, learned behavior, conditioning, social behavior
- Anxietyanxiety, nervousness, panic, worry, generalized anxiety
- stressstress, chronic stress, acute stress, strain, stressor
fight or flightrest and digest
Calming branch of autonomic system
relaxation response · calm · homeostasis · equilibrium · relaxed state
fight or flightmeasured response
Controlled, proportional reply
reflective thinking · strategic planning · executive function · slow thinking · equanimity
fight, flight, fighting, fighter, flights, fought, flighty, fighters, flightless