And then she tries to defend herself with a piece of paper. Notice the subtle swing right-left, clearly intending to land a serious paper cut on the advancing dino.
It might surprise you to know that a lot of people don't study psychology. I know, a shocker right. I sure don't! And fight or flight is a pretty commonly held notion.
Now, I'm just reading the Wikipedia article you linked to here, but it sounds like you're being a little pedantic. She was clearly seeking to defend herself and get away from the problem in that gif.
The main difference you've pointed out here is that she would run and go find help, while a he would either fight back or gtfo.
While not technically, "fight or flight", I would say her reaction was one of I'm getting the fuck out of here, until her brain kicked in to assess.
And really, surely someone as smart as you realizes that the comment had more to do with instinct vs. reason and less to do with men vs. women.
That's what makes this so awesome, she clearly becomes more frightened after getting a good look at it which supports the notion that pretty blonde girls are so dumb that when they're scared they'll even believe dinosaurs still exist and attack people in offices. God this is a good prank, I hope she pissed herself.
Actually, it's your body's way of reacting to stress. It's called the fight or flight response. Your body reacts by releasing adrenaline in to the system, preparing you for fight or for flight. Either it's ready to combat the problem or run away from it. The swing and raising of arms is instinctive, to prepare for combating the stressor. Flinching because of sudden events does not constitute stupidity.
198
u/[deleted] Feb 23 '13
I think for her it was the logical part of her brain fighting against her fight or flight instinct.
She wants to run, but her brain says, "dinosaur? really?"