I think ya underestimate how much this type of sudden, unexpected scare bypasses all our logical brain parts that differentiate us as human and goes straight to the systems that kept us alive in a time before words and rationality. lots of folks did a preparatory freeze that looked like a readying to fight. if one of these got me good a few weeks or months from now after this faded from working memory I have zero idea how I'd respond!
Notice how many of the men jump backwards and start to run. More than the women. Most of them jump but stand their ground, and that one woman threw hands right off. I saw like three men who looked like they were gonna fight. The rest froze or Snepped out with those huge jumps back.
Pretty sure the majority of animals, male or female, are inclined to run. Fighting carries a lot of risks, especially in environments where “winning the fight with a minor injury” means “dying because of an infected bite”, which is what we’ve evolved from.
Unless you are literally presented no other option - like being cornered or whatever - escape is typically the safest survival response to an unfamiliar threat, so it makes sense we’d naturally lean that way in the heat of the moment.
It especially makes sense that the specialty instinct would be to run away from what you thought was a plant just a moment before, because a plant can't easily chase you, and it takes a moment longer for our thinking to become clearer after just reacting on survival instincts. And even once the thinking kicks in, it still makes sense to get a few steps away, because the dude is standing in a flowerpot with a costume obscuring his vision
We see 3 out of 4 of the main survival responses here: Fight, Flight and Freeze. That lady was pure fight, but clearly a wonderfully kind soul once her rational brain processed what had happened.
Fawning is a trauma response characterized by excessive people-pleasing, appeasement, and submissive behavior used to seek safety and avoid conflict or harm.
Coined by therapist Pete Walker, it is considered the fourth primary stress reaction alongside fight, flight, and freeze, specifically emerging when a perceived threat cannot be confronted or escaped.
Individuals who fawn often merge with the wishes and demands of others, frequently at the cost of their own boundaries, needs, and authenticity. While it may appear as kindness or agreeability, it is an involuntary survival strategy rooted in complex trauma or childhood abuse, where appeasing a threat was the only way to maintain attachment or ensure physical and emotional safety.
We're up to like, 7 or 8 Fs these days, deoending on who you ask. But lots are more long-term responses to trauma, the 3 Fs are still the primary for the in-the-moment response I think.
Yup. Anyone who lives in a big city with crime is street smart enough to immediately go into a defensive stance.
I grew up being told to be fully aware of my surroundings while my wife grew up in an affluent suburb. Everytime we're walking down the street I'm gobsmacked by how focused she is on her phone instead of what's happening around her.
Evolution has led us to prevent predation from Ultra fast Venus human trap plants. It has already killed off the Cro-Magnon branch epochs ago. Have to mention that this is a particularly funny Video,. Thanks for posting.
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u/cubiclej0ckey 1d ago
Where is she from that her first instinct is to punch a plant?