2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
There is one well-known concept about strategies, and you've probably heard of them already.
It is believed that all people (and not only us, but also all life on Earth) in a situation of severe stress resort to one of three ways to avoid danger and keep them alive:
- Bey.
- Run
- Freeze.
Despite all the millions of years of evolution, we continue to automatically choose one of them if we are very frightened.
One winter evening, when it was not too late, but it was already dark, one girl whiled away the time at home embroidering, completely immersed in the process.
Suddenly she heard something forcefully hit the window of the balcony door.
What can you think when someone knocks on your window on the third floor? That someone climbed onto your balcony!
The girl from our story froze from fright and could not bring herself to move for several minutes. This is how the "Freeze" strategy worked.
Its essence lies in the fact that if you do not move, then the predator may think that the victim is dead or simply not notice it.
When she heard the second blow through the window, she suddenly had strength and, having made a jump three meters in length, she found herself in the kitchen, where she grabbed a knife.
So the strategy was launched: "Hit". This strategy is needed so that, if it does not work out to freeze and hide, attack the predator, scare him or even kill him.
If the "Run" strategy worked for the girl, she would probably just run out into the entrance or onto the street. This strategy is good if you run faster than a predator and you have the space to do it.
This story ended well and even comically. When she went out to the balcony with a knife, it turned out that there was no one there.
Her friends decided to joke and stood in the street, throwing clods of earth at her windows - like in old movies, calling her out for a walk.
When a coping strategy works for a person, he does not have time to think and choose which option is better to use.
Everything happens automatically and very quickly: thanks to the release of a large dose of adrenaline into the blood.
It is an important adaptive mechanism in the process of survival and preservation of the species.
But now a person living, for example, in a city is rarely in real danger.
Times changed from bad to good too quickly. Our nervous system did not have time to adapt and works with the previous regime.
And we, under the influence of adrenaline, react to minor events in the same way as if we met a tiger in a pristine forest.
For example, a coworker responded sharply to your comment. And you yourself, not having time to understand what happened, resort to one of three strategies.
It turns out not very convenient)
I was inspired to write this article by a note from a psychologist who says that humans, unlike other animals, have another strategy that is much better and safer for us in everyday life.
So, check out the new list:
- Bay
- Run
- Freeze
- Agree.
Negotiating is a unique ability that is not available to any other animal in the world.
And it is thanks to her that we have achieved such a development as a species.
The main thing is to learn how to pause before choosing one of the first three options)
And what do you think?
Which strategy is best? And what's your favorite?)
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