Write About Cannon’s Fight-Or-Flight Model in Your Psychology Assignment

Written by Carrie Smith  »  Updated on: May 22nd, 2025

The subject of psychology explores the deep study of the brain and thoughts. In this subject, you will do scientific research on the human mind. This study teaches you about cognition, emotion, perception, motivation and mental health. That's why you must choose the best topic for your task. However, among all the topics, stress is a crucial topic. Learn about the stress to understand various mental problems. If you want to explore other topics in psychology, seek Instant Assignment Help. This online platform helps you with a wide range of task topics.

The Cannon's fight-or-flight model is an interesting topic that defines the stress response. Choose this topic for your task to learn about this model. This article gives you information on this model and its various applications. Also, you will learn about the scientist Walter Cannon. So, research this topic to understand the cause of immediate action due to the threat. Therefore, take psychology assignment help to learn about the threat response. Look at the overview of the fight-or-flight model.

Overview of Fight-Or-Flight Model

The fight-or-flight model is also known as the fight-or-flight response. The scientist Walter B. Cannon discovered this model. In this model, you will learn about the physiological reactions caused by stress or threat. These reactions are your immediate responses that prepare your body to fight against the threat or issue. This fight includes the defensive action taken by your body. However, it also involves going away from that problem. In short, a threat represents something that disturbs you mentally and physically. When you see this threat, your body takes immediate action against it. This rapid action is due to the hormones released by your body. These hormones will divert your body to take necessary action or to protect you from that issue. Understand this topic in depth to know about this proposed concept.

Definition of the Fight-Or-Flight Model

This model was discovered in 1915 by W. Cannon. It is also known as a fight-flight-freeze-or-fawn response. As the name suggests, this model includes the fight or flight technique against any problem. These are the automatic reactions managed by your body hormones. Yet, these hormones are emitted because of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. When your body detects a hazard, it starts the sympathetic nervous system. Thereafter, your nervous system emits adrenaline and other hormones to maintain homeostasis. Thus, these hormones change your body's actions and activities to protect you from that hazard. This theory was first identified with the help of animals. Read about this experiment in the next paragraph of Walter Cannon's brief.

Brief Introduction of Walter Cannon

The full name of this scientist is Walter Bradford Cannon. He was one of the greatest scientists in America. This American scientist discovered many concepts or theories, such as Homeostasis, Fight-or-flight and the X-ray experiment. He discovered physiological responses in the X-ray experiment on cats. In the experiments on cats, he observes that the cat shows a physical change in their body due to a threat. However, when the cat sees any alarm or threat, its digestive system stops working. This observation shows that emotions affect the physical body. This experiment accidentally discovered the new research. Thereafter, he did in-depth research on this area and discovered the fight-or-flight concept.

Applications of the Fight-Or-Flight Model

The body changes its behaviour when it detects any threat. Yet, this rapid change triggers your nervous system. The nervous system releases adrenaline and cortisol hormones. These are mostly linked to stress. They fight against the threat to protect you. Also, when these hormones are released in large quantities, they can cause other problems. Here are some of the applications of this survival method.

1. This mechanism defends you from all physical danger. The physical danger triggers your emotions, which release hormones. These hormones can be beneficial or cause problems such as rapid breathing and increased heart rate.

2. When you feel stress due to any unfavourable situations, it triggers your hormones. This leads to sweating, rapid heartbeat and concentration problems.

3. If you feel uncomfortable in social interactions, it triggers the response. This generates anxiety and a defensive feeling.

The Physiology of the Fight-Or-Flight Response

This response model is a crucial topic for the physiology subject. In this topic, you learn about the emotions and their relation with quick actions. So, study this topic in depth and try to understand its real intent. However, this is not the topic that you can learn from an essay typer. Use a valid published research paper for your reference. Try to read this article again and again to find new things on this topic.

The fight-or-flight response uses the autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus and adrenal glands. All these things collectively trigger the response and release hormones. These hormones enable you to react quickly in scary situations. In addition, if these hormones are released excessively, they cause other psychological problems. The quantity of hormones also depends on the following factors.

Explanation of Autonomic Nervous System

The nervous system contains different body parts. The autonomic nervous system is one of its parts. However, this autonomic part controls the involuntary functions of your body. These functions are automatically processed by your body. Some of these functions are the heart rate, breathing, reflexes and digestion. All these functions are also divided into two sections. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems control these functions. The sympathetic system affects largely those functions that result in the fight-or-flight response. Whereas, the parasympathetic system neutralises these functions.

Activation of the Fight-Or-Flight Response

The living being's body detects a danger or hazard from the multiple sense organs. However, after this detection, the body initiates the fight-or-flight response. These sense organs send signals to the brain through the sympathetic nervous system. This nervous system triggers the brain and gives a signal to release stress hormones. The brain has the power to control all the other organs. Therefore, the stress hormones change the neutral state of the organs. This results in immediate actions. These rapid actions allow your body to fight or flee from a hazard.

Role of the Hypothalamus and Adrenal Glands

All the body's actions and reactions are in the control of the brain. However, when this brain detects any stressful event or hazard, it sends a threat signal to the amygdala. The amygdala, part of the brain, processes emotional signals. It even sends the processed signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is also a part of the brain. It can control the whole body. Therefore, the amygdala sends signals to the hypothalamus. Thereafter, this part sends fight-or-flight signals to the sympathetic nervous system. This system triggers the adrenal glands of the kidney that release adrenaline and noradrenaline hormones. These hormones direct your body to take action.

Conclusion

To sum up, research on this topic for your task. This topic gives you deep knowledge of the brain and nervous system. However, the fight-or-flight model explains the real cause of rapid actions. It shows the process of the body that determines the hazard and deals with it. Also, you will learn about the different internal body parts, such as the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamus. Understand the functions of these parts that control your actions. These actions only depend on the amount of hormones released by the adrenal glands. If your hormones are emitted in large quantities, it causes other problems. Whereas, if these hormones come in small quantities, it leads to the fight and flee actions. Therefore, seek psychology assignment help to understand these immediate responses.

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