The Four Fear Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn

The emotion of fear is a core part of the human experience. Our brains are wired to experience fear as a way to warn us that we might be in danger, such as when faced with a bear in the woods. But what happens when we feel afraid?

Discover how this emotion impacts the brain and the responses this can create, namely fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Continue reading to also learn whether we can change our fear responses when faced with scary situations.

Fear and the Brain

The experience of fear begins in the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes many of our emotions. When the amygdala is activated due to possible danger, it elicits the fear response. This can happen when:

• We are in actual danger
• We believe we are in danger
• We experience "scary" stimuli (like a horror movie, for example)
• The amygdala is artificially stimulated

While the amygdala processes emotional experiences, the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex control things like language and impulse control. When we experience fear, our brain re-routes energy to the amygdala, slowing down processing in other areas. That is why it can be difficult to speak or make rational decisions when we are afraid.

Fear Responses

When we experience fear and the amygdala is activated, our brain makes quick decisions about what to do next. Its goal is to keep us safe, seeking the choice that will get us away from perceived danger with minimal harm. This response can be described through four categories: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.

Fight

The mystic Rajneesh once said that "anger is fear in disguise," and this succinctly sums up the fight response. When the brain perceives danger, it might choose to try and fight off the threat. This can manifest as a physical or verbal altercation and is accompanied by an intense angry feeling.

Flight

If our brain does not feel that it can successfully fight off danger, it may decide to try and escape, triggering a flight response. Essentially, this fear response involves trying to get as far away from the dangerous situation as quickly as possible. If the danger is something that can be outrun, the flight response can be effective.

Freeze

Another fear response is to freeze or to try to be very still and quiet until the danger passes. Some people with social anxiety disorder experience selective mutism, where they find themselves unable to speak in anxiety-provoking situations. Their vocal cords become paralyzed due to fear, and they are unable to speak until the anxiety passes. This is an example of the freeze response at work.

Evolutionary theories suggest that the freeze response might be the brain's attempt to avoid detection by predators by essentially holding very still until the threat goes away. The fear response shuts down the body's ability to move, causing the person to literally feel frozen or stuck until the fear passes.

Fawn

"Fawning" is a fear response where the brain decides to try and please whoever is triggering the fear to prevent them from causing harm. It's common for survivors of trauma to engage in this people-pleasing response as a way to try to avoid abuse by keeping the abuser as happy as possible. This can also manifest as compliance to avoid being hurt.

Can You Change Your Fear Response?

Because the four fear responses are chosen so quickly, we are typically not actively deciding which is most effective or appropriate in a given situation. These processes happen automatically because when we are in danger, there is often no time to sit and weigh our options. Our brain simply does its best in the moment.

Unfortunately, this means we may not make the most effective decision when the amygdala is activated. For example, a person might lash out at their spouse due to a fight response when feeling anxious about work. Or they may freeze and be unable to deliver an important presentation.

Mindfulness of our emotions can help us notice when we are having a fear response and enable us to try to reactivate the logical part of our brain. When we notice that we are experiencing this response, we can try and make a different choice. Research shows we can train ourselves to respond differently to fear.

When Fear Responses May Be an Issue

Because fear is one way our brain keeps us safe, it would not be healthy to never experience a fear response. For example, early humans who did not experience fear probably tried to pet the saber tooth tiger instead of hiding, a choice that probably did not end well for them.

We want our brains to accurately perceive whether or not something is a threat and make the best choice to keep us safe. But if you find that you avoid situations that are not actually dangerous (such as social situations), get into frequent arguments, or put others' wants and needs ahead of your own to your detriment due to fear, there may be something else going on.

Frequent, intense fear responses when there is not an actual threat can be a sign of anxiety, for instance. With anxiety, fear responses can occur when there is no danger or may be more intense than the situation requires. Fortunately, anxiety can be effectively treated through therapy and medication.