More than Fight or Flight

Different Reactions to Stress

Stress Reactions - Fight, Flight, Fawn, Freeze, Capitulate

Not all stress is the same – acute and chronic stress are different. And people react very differently to stress, depending on their personality and the extent of the stress. Automatic stress reactions involve more than the familiar fight or flight pattern – the different responses create complex patterns of leadership behaviour under stress.

This article explores the different stress responses. It offers practical insights for leaders and managers to recognise and overcome unproductive stress reactions.

The Impact of Stress & Stress Responses

Many decisions must be made under stress, and many decision situations elicit stress responses themselves.

Katrin Starcke & Matthias Brand Authors of “Decision making under stress: A selective review”¹

Being a leader places strong demands on the individual: important decisions often have to be made under conditions of chronic overload and / or additional acute pressures. Tight deadlines, long working hours, and lack of sleep affect the nervous system both short-term (acute) and long-term (chronic), impacting both mind and body.

We differentiate between brief bouts of manageable stress (transitionary stress), which is has positive effects and the negative impacts of overwhelming stress (severe acute stress) and prolonged, exposure to stress (chronic stress)

Different Levels of Stress

Temporary
Stress

Transitionary stress (i.e. short-term moderate stress) is caused by a sudden spike in demands – e.g. prepping for a big presentation or handling an unexpected crisis.

Transitionary stress can motivate and may enhance performance
Adrenaline kicks in, focus sharpens and reaction times improve
Once the event passes, the body and mind return to normal
Such experiences lead to learning and growth

Severe Acute
Stress

Severe stress is caused by catastrophic events, the combination of multiple crises or escalation against the background of chronic stress.

Severe stress puts the body in fight-or-flight mode and can be overwhelming
Emotional responses dominate (fear, anger etc.)
Mental flexibility decreases – tunnel vision instead of planning & problem-solving
May result in a strong imprint and even PTSD

Chronic
Stress

Chronic stress results from persistent overload (e.g. long work hours, unresolved conflicts, constant pressures, lack of recovery time)

Over time, chronic stress wears down physical health, cognitive functioning and emotional resilience
Impairs executive functions like memory storage & retrieval, problem solving, strategic thinking, creativity
May lead to emotional volatility, risk-aversion, burnout, lack of motivation

As business environments become increasingly complex and demanding, it is crucial to understand how both severe acute and chronic stress affect leadership capacity. Awareness of stress can help to mitigate the negative effects of stress and promote sustainable effectiveness in stressful situations.

Overwhelming and chronic stress affects decision-making, communication, emotional intelligence, and emotional resilience. It can also diminish problem-solving abilities and creativity, and may create a negative feedback loop, further eroding interpersonal effectiveness.

Before exploring the different general stress responses, it is important to understand how stress affects the nervous system and human behaviour as a whole.

Nervous System Activation

When stress levels rise, our sophisticated cognitive brain gives way to more primitive neural systems. The body goes into alert, starting with activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The body activates a biological emergency program, the so called fight-or-flight response. This survival mechanism, mediated primarily by the amygdala and hypothalamus, floods the body with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

During sympathetic activation of the nervous system (fight-or-flight), the following happens in the body:

Heart rate increases
Blood pressure rises
Blood flows into major muscle groups
Digestive and immune systems temporarily shut down
The brain prioritises threat detection over complex thinking

This physiological cascade evolved to help our ancestors survive immediate physical threats — predators, rival tribes, natural disasters — not to help modern executives navigate complex business decisions.

Our biology doesn’t distinguish between a charging predator and a challenging board meeting. The body in the face of perceived threat relies on innate emergency mechanisms.

Autopilot Behaviour during Stress

Under stress our behaviour becomes more automatic and we rely more on habits: An automatic mode of behaviour emerges as stress impairs cognitive capacity and flexibility. Instead of being able to use flexible task or goal directed behaviour, under stress we often find us relying on rigid stimulus-response behaviours.² The use of routines and habits under stress allows for “optimizing rapid responses while conserving cognitive resources when faced with high demands”.³

In automatic mode, leaders use:

Automatic Behaviours
- Reactivity – Reacting “automatically” to demands
- Vortex of the situation – Momentum of the interaction and the organisational framework
- Overuse of Personality traits – over-using typical behaviours and personality traits
Automatic Skills & Habits
- Relying on well practiced skills – Using very solid skills, which are available even under extreme stress
- Relying on Habits to remain functional despite exhaustion
Automatic action modes of flight, fight and appeasement as well as emergency modes such as freeze and surrender.

Under stress people become less flexible and may tend to overuse automatic behaviours.

Complex Automatic Stress Reactions

This autopilot behaviour can also comprise sophisticated cognitive and behavioural patterns including the conduct of complex leadership tasks. Ideally, under stress one can rely on well adjusted, consciously trained routines, suitable to the situation. Like a the firefighter has trained running into the burning building rather than away from the fire, a manager may rely on well practiced standard routines in data analysis and decision making.

However, leadership and management tasks often involve novel information and decision-making situations, making patterned behaviour less appropriate. In the absence of an appropriate repertoire, the person tends to overuse the available behaviours – often out of habit or through overuse of personal tendencies. Inappropriate behaviour can also lead to misperceptions, exacerbating the problem and increasing perceived stress.

Which automatic behaviour we choose under stress is determined by one of five typical stress reactions – depending on our individual predisposition and the severity of the threat.

Five Types of Stress Response

Under stress, people instinctively focus on short-term survival – including perceived social survival in the social hierarchy (i.e. social standing). Human behaviour goes beyond physical confrontation or flight and includes complex methods of conflict resolution and interaction with others. This also includes complex communication and action strategies. These strategies lose flexibility under stress and causing individuals to default to habitual behaviours.

These psycho-social survival strategies have five different expressions:

Impulsive actions: Fight mode – action, activity, readiness to assume risk
Defensive actions: Flight mode – withdrawal from the situation, disappearing, risk aversion
Placatory actions: Fawn mode – placatory behaviour and conflict avoidance
Tense state of alert: Freeze mode – stuck in inner conflicts and dilemmas, procrastination and lack of decisions, inner tension without resolution
Giving up: Capitulation mode (Fold mode) – Giving up fighting or fleeing, defeatism, lack of motivation to do anything.

Managers often initially default to fight mode because it aligns with expectations of control, leadership, and decisiveness — especially in high-pressure environments. It is the mode which is employed in the healthy “stretch zone”, where one can cope with stress and learns and grows.

Defaulting under stress automatically to “fight”, “flight” or “fawn” or other automatic patterns reduces decision quality. This is even more the case if one gets stuck in “freeze” or “gives up” completely. This may contribute to cycles of escalating problems that could have been avoided with a more balanced / flexible behaviour.

Fight

When the fight response prevails, leaders tend toward:

Impulsive action without adequate consideration of consequences
Excessive risk-taking and overlooking potential downsides
Confrontational approaches to problems and relationships
Overconfidence in own’s own capabilities and ideas
Action Bias – Acting, when doing nothing or taking time would be a better strategy
Rashness – i.e. accelerated actions without proper conscienciousness
Anger as predominant emotion combined with aggressive behaviour

“Fight mode” is often the mode of choice for leaders who are faced with heavy workloads or are challenged by conflict and complex situations.

The Fight mode is an active coping strategy for stress. One responds with confrontation, assertiveness or attempts to overcome obstacles immediately. This strategy is characterised by bursts of energy, urgency, risk-taking and a willingness to take decisive action.

In its constructive form, fight mode can galvanize teams, break through inertia, and push initiatives forward. However, when overused or triggered impulsively, this mode can escalate conflicts, create unnecessary adversaries, and lead to reckless decision-making. Leaders in unbalanced fight mode may appear aggressive, domineering, or intolerant of dissent. In the long term, this behaviour can lead to exhaustion and capitulation (see below “Capitulation”)

Recognising fight responses enables leaders to channel this energy thoughtfully—choosing strategic battles, regulating emotional reactivity, and maintaining constructive assertiveness under pressure.

“Flight” mode is another active coping strategy that manifests as a strong impulse to avoid, withdraw, or escape stressful situations. Leaders in flight mode may delegate excessively, withdraw from key meetings, or distance themselves from problems.

While short-term withdrawal can serve as a protective mechanism to gain perspective or conserve resources, prolonged flight behaviour undercuts leadership credibility, leaves issues unresolved, and contributes to instability for the team.

Recognising flight tendencies allows leaders to distinguish between konstruktive purposeful retreats (for rest and reflection) and destructive avoidance patterns that delay necessary engagement. To overcome the flight impulse, it can help cultivating the courage to stay present and tackling challenges one step at a time.

Flight

When the flight response dominates, leaders exhibit:

Excessive risk aversion even when bold action is necessary
Going into hiding – avoiding conflicts
Withdrawal from challenging conversations
Delegation of difficult decisions without proper oversight
Fear & anxiety as predominant emotions resulting in avoidance and hiding

Fawn (Appeasement)

When the fawn response is used, leaders will tend to:

Pleasing and appeasing others – often at the expense of one’s own needs and boundaries
Avoiding conflicts to maintain safety
Taking on too much responsibility and additional work – beyond a fair share of burden and beyond sustainable workload
Excessive approval seeking from authority
Giving up own needs and boundaries instead of standing up for oneself.
Fear & anxiety as predominant emotions, resulting in active conflict avoidance behaviours

“Fawn” mode (Appeasement mode) is an active coping mechanism where leaders seek safety through appeasement, placating, compliance, or excessive accommodation. It is characterised by a strong orientation towards pleasing others, avoiding conflict, and maintaining harmony at any cost.

This concept is related to the “Tend and befriend” stress-coping mechanism developed by psychologist Shelley E. Taylor⁴, which suggests that under stress, individuals may engage in behaviours protecting others (tend) and seek social support (befriend) as a way to manage challenges. This may include placatory actions, communication and negotiation.⁵

In volatile and tension-laden, fawning can de-escalate threats and maintain relational bridges. However, over time, leaders who over-fawn may lose authority and compromise their values.

Recognising placatory patterns allows leaders to differentiate between strategic diplomacy and self-destructive behaviour. Practicing assertive communication and boundary-setting can improve authenticity and provide a way out excessive people pleasing.

“Freeze” mode represents a passive coping strategy that emerges as an initial reaction to an overwhelming demand. It may be experienced as feeling tense, blocked or stuck in a dilemma. Leaders caught in freeze mode may delay critical decisions, overanalyse options or appear passive and detached.

This mode is normally transitionary, followed by an orientation reaction, trying to figure out the level of threat and possible ways out. This way, a temporary freeze can create space for a reassessment of the situation. Staying too long in this mode leads to stagnation, missed opportunities, and loss of authority.

Recognising freeze responses can help moving towards information gathering and active (re-)engagement.

Freeze

When the freeze mode is activated, leaders use:

Passivity – constructive wait and see approach
Inaction in a state of tenseness / high alert
Information gathering / orientation regarding the level of threat and possible solutions
Hesitating / Procrastination – avoiding decisions against the background of internal conflicts and dilemmas
Overthinking and rumination – Analysis-Paralysis
Anxiety and fear as predominant emotions leading to lack of action

Capitulation

When a leader goes into collapse, this results in

Reactivity – only reacting if absolutely necessary
Lack of own initiatives, lack of proactivity and own ideas
Lack of motivation, lack of ambition
Giving up trying to influence outcomes
Negativity and cynicism towards any initiative or idea to create positive outcomes
Disengagement & passivity
Internal resignation from the job
Burn-out and depression as extreme forms, if capitulation moves beyond just the business role

“Capitulation” mode takes passivity even further. The result of chronic or overwhelming stress or prolonged fight-mode, can be helplessness and psychological and emotional surrender.

Leaders in capitulation mode do not just go temporary into hiding or a tense stuck state. They may exhibit signs of burnout, cynicism, or complete disengagement from their responsibilities. Motivation collapses, and there may be little to no effort to influence outcomes. This surrender accelerates the decline in performance, erodes team morale, and creates a leadership vacuum.

Effective leadership under stress requires recognising the early signs of capitulation and taking proactive steps – such as seeking support, redistributing burdens, or redefining goals – to restore agency and resilience.

Ultimately, all these behavioural modes—fight, flight, placating, freeze, and capitulation—are automatic survival responses in the face of stress and overwhelm. All five modes operate with high emotional activation and limited cognitive and behavioural flexibility. Habitual behaviours / personality traits may tend the leader automatically towards a particular style of behaviour. Such maladjusted behaviours may contribute to further straining human relationships and bad decisions.

A better response to stress would be marked by the ability to notice such instinctive reactions, regulate them, and choose responses aligned with strategic goals rather than unconscious survival patterns.

Breaking the Stress Cycle

Understanding your own habitual stress responses is an important step toward mitigating their effects. As a business leader, you need to recognise when you’re operating from a place of stress rather than rational thought can be transformative. Consider implementing the following practices to improve your leadership performance under continuous pressure:

Coping with Leadership Stress

Step 1 Slow Down & Take a Break

Allow for individual pauses to break the vortex of stress driven decision.
Prescribe pause points in the work-flow / decision flow, which relieve collective urgency and stress.
Pause before reacting – count to ten, take deep breaths, or step away momentarily.
Engage in quick stress-reducing techniques like mindfulness, stretching, or a short walk.

Step 2 Recognise Your Automatic Behaviours Under Stress

In which of the five patters do you fall under stress (fight, flight, placate, freeze, capitulate)?
Which automatic behaviours do you use?
Identify how stress affects your leadership style (e.g., micromanaging, avoiding decisions, becoming overly reactive).
Reflect on past stressful situations—what patterns do you use?

Step 3 Make personal contact, gain perspective & seek support

Rebuild personal contact in conflict situations as much as possible. Conflicts are rarely solved over email.
Seek feedback from trusted colleagues or mentors to gain an outside perspective.
Find support from trusted people who are not subject to the same stress factors – friends, family, outside advisors and consultants or coaches.

Step 4 Establish Organisational Frameworks

Reduce complexity by following routines for information gathering and analysis
Use structured decision-making tools (e.g. criteria lists, decision matrices, voting procedures)
Delegate effectively to distribute workload and prevent burnout.
Foster open communication—encourage your team to provide input and challenge assumptions.
Set clear priorities and break complex problems into manageable steps.

Different Reactions to Stress