I have noticed that whenever i hang out with my friends, and we either watch a horror movie, or someone pranks one another with a jumpscare, they all seem to scream in response, whilst i freeze and dont make a sound. Why is my reaction so different, and what characteristics contributes to this.
In: Biology
There are actually generally considered to be “Four F’s” when it comes to stress stimulus: fight, flight, freeze, and friend (sometimes called fawn). The short answer is, we aren’t totally sure why people react differently. It probably has something to do with how your brain is wired and how you have responded to previous dangers. Some of it is probably instinctual based on your subconscious perception of the type of danger you are facing; you are not necessarily always going to react the same way to different types of scary thing. Some research indicates that our choice can be influenced by our perception of both predictability of violence and our personal control over the situation. You freeze at scary movies, but you might punch a bully, for instance.
Latest Answers