Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition

077 Freeze-Flight-Fight-Forfeit

The ordered, instinctive response to acute stress.

When people are exposed to stressful or threatening situations, they respond in a manner often referred to as “fight or flight”. Less catchy but more accurate is the contemporary construction, “freeze-flight-fight-forfeit”, which not only describes the full set of responses but also reflects the general sequence in which they occur.1

The response set typically begins at stage 1 and escalates to subsequent stages as the level of threat increases:

1. Freeze — When a threat is believed to be imminent, the instinctive response is to stop, look, and listen to try and detect potential threats. This stage induces a mental state of hyperawareness and hypervigilance
2. Flight ...