Defensive responses to threat scenarios in Brazilians reproduce the pattern of Hawaiian Americans and non-human mammals

Abstract

A former study with scenarios conducted in Hawaii has suggested that humans share with non-human mammals the same basic defensive strategies -risk assessment, freezing, defensive threat, defensive attack, and flight. The selection of the most adaptive strategy is strongly influenced by features of the threat stimulus -magnitude, escapability, distance, ambiguity, and availability of a hiding place. Aiming at verifying if these strategies would be consistent in a different culture, 12 defensive scenarios were translated into Portuguese and adapted to the Brazilian culture. The sample consisted of male and female undergraduate students divided into two groups: 76 students, who evaluated the five dimensions of each scenario and 248 medical students, who chose the most likely response for each scenario. In agreement with the findings from studies of non-human mammal species, the scenarios were able to elicit different defensive behavioral responses, depending on features of the threat. "Flight" was chosen as the most likely response in scenarios evaluated as an unambiguous and intense threat, but with an available route of escape, whereas "attack" was chosen in an unambiguous, intense and close dangerous situation without an escape route. Less urgent behaviors, such as "check out", were chosen in scenarios evaluated as less intense, more distant and more ambiguous. Moreover, the results from the Brazilian sample were similar to the results obtained in the original study with Hawaiian students. These data suggest that a basic repertoire of defensive strategies is conserved along the mammalian evolution because they share similar functional benefits in maintaining fitness.

The response of social anxiety disorder patients to threat scenarios differs from that of healthy controls

“…With regard to the influence of previous experience on the responses, the results obtained in the present study also agree with those reported in our previous study (6). Participants with previous experience in the situations described in the Stoplight and Tailgating scenarios tended to choose more urgent responses more often than those without previous experience.…”

“…The profile of the responses to the scenarios chosen by the healthy volunteers included in this study was very similar to that of the original study (5) and the validation study, in which the threat scenarios were adapted to the Brazilian population (6). In comparison to our previous results, the most frequent first-choice response of healthy male volunteers was the same for 11 scenarios, and, among healthy women, there was agreement for 10 scenarios.…”

Behavioral and neuroimaging responses induced by mental imagery of threatening scenarios

“…One scenario represented an imminent threat (scenario Elevator) and another potential threat (scenario Noise). These scenarios have been chosen because, in previous studies [4,5], the former was evaluated as the highest magnitude of threat and the lowest possibility of escape and of finding a hiding place; the latter was rated as the most ambiguous scenario. The most frequently recorded response to the Elevator scenario was defensive attack and to Noise, checking out.…”

“…Ten were excluded due to use of illicit substances [2], medical conditions [1], use of psychotropic medication [1], use of fixed orthodontic appliances [1] and impediments for scheduling the scanning [5].…”

“…These scenarios were tested in Hawaiian [4] and Brazilian [5] healthy volunteers, and the results pointed to a resemblance between nonhuman and human defensive repertoires [6]. Perkins and Corr [7] used the same scenario set and found an association between psychoticism, as one characteristic of personality, and the evaluation of defensive magnitude which, in its turns, influenced the defensive choices and orientation to direction away from threat source.…”