C
CaffeineKing
Guest
Here's another question for debate.
Fear is a hormonal response, not an electrical one. If it was and a tiger burst into the room you're sitting in now, the little part of your brain marked "tiger alarm" will start screeching. You jump up, turn away and... oh - no tiger. As you relax, it attacks you from behind. Since that clearly doesn't work, we've evolved a hormonal response. As you've turned to flee, you can't see the tiger any more, but the hormones are still surging through your system - they take a while to disappear - so the more primitive aspects of the brain are still aware of the need for "fight or flight" and have upped their game at the expense of the higher level - thinking - parts.
Anyway, what I think I've getting at is that when we're scared, things go wrong. We forget things, we act by instinct - which may or may be what we've been trained to do. I can't help but notice that there are some people here who are in dangerous professions - police officers, possibly some military people etc. - who are far better placed than me to discuss this. So, I'm wondering at the benefits of short self-defence courses. (I saw a poster for one in a shop window on the way in to work this morning). Do they work? Do they have their place? Is there such a thing as a *short* self-defence course or do they do more harm than good??
I have no opinion of my own either way - and I'm certainly not critcising them myself - but I am interested in expert opinion. Thoughts, anyone?
Fear is a hormonal response, not an electrical one. If it was and a tiger burst into the room you're sitting in now, the little part of your brain marked "tiger alarm" will start screeching. You jump up, turn away and... oh - no tiger. As you relax, it attacks you from behind. Since that clearly doesn't work, we've evolved a hormonal response. As you've turned to flee, you can't see the tiger any more, but the hormones are still surging through your system - they take a while to disappear - so the more primitive aspects of the brain are still aware of the need for "fight or flight" and have upped their game at the expense of the higher level - thinking - parts.
Anyway, what I think I've getting at is that when we're scared, things go wrong. We forget things, we act by instinct - which may or may be what we've been trained to do. I can't help but notice that there are some people here who are in dangerous professions - police officers, possibly some military people etc. - who are far better placed than me to discuss this. So, I'm wondering at the benefits of short self-defence courses. (I saw a poster for one in a shop window on the way in to work this morning). Do they work? Do they have their place? Is there such a thing as a *short* self-defence course or do they do more harm than good??
I have no opinion of my own either way - and I'm certainly not critcising them myself - but I am interested in expert opinion. Thoughts, anyone?