Fright
With shock is defined as the reaction of an organism to a surprisingly perceived, potentially threatening stimulus. The startle reaction includes various psychological and physiological processes, all of which serve to ward off the threat or to minimize adverse consequences. The shock is usually perceived as aversive . The connection between the tonsil core complex and those of the basal ganglia plays an important role .
Function of the startle response
Terrors set in motion an instinctive survival mechanism that is the same in all mammals . The startle reaction helps the organism to quickly adjust to a threat. On the one hand, it activates protective mechanisms that are intended to prevent injury (rapid eyelid closure , contraction of the skeletal muscles ) and, on the other hand, the vegetative nervous system in order to initiate a fight-or-flight reaction.
Physiological and psychological aspects of the startle response
A fright leads to a tearing out of current action. Similar to the orientation reaction, the person's attention is fully or at least largely focused on the stimulus that triggers the startle. There is an increased phasic activation . Jerky, rapid inhalation ensures an increased supply of oxygen. Hardening of the neck and back muscles offers protection against injuries. Horrors can still trigger a scream . Extremely stressful frightful situations can trigger a shock in very sensitive and / or old people .
Influences on the startle response
The threshold of fright differs individually and in some cases and depends on the experience, (nervous) constitution and / or conditioning . Living beings that react sensitively to horror are called scared. However, shock resistance can be trained to a certain extent. An example of this is the conditioning of police horses that are exposed to gunfire.
Hypervigilance and increased frightfulness, which cannot be alleviated by habituation, but on the contrary is further intensified, are characteristic of psychological trauma .
The word "Schreck" in the German language
Fright in different contexts of words
A scary moment is to find the average time it takes for a person to process the impression to a shock (perception and processing). This is u. a. important when driving a car (driving maneuvers, braking - braking distance ). A specter is a ghost , a horror scenario can be a situation or a state (“image of horror”) that actually triggers a fright. This term is also used to classify representations of events as fictional or at least exaggerated, which are intended to cause horror, but are in fact not suitable to frighten. A stun gun is a gun, but verschießt no projectile but is intended only to scare an attacker or Bedroher.
A horror as a person is someone who scares others (e.g. "child shock").
Transitivity of the verb "scare"
Standard Linguistically can scare both transitive as intransitive be used. Transitive means to frighten someone and is bent weakly . Intransitive, on the other hand, means being frightened and flexing strongly .
He scares her. - She gets scared.
He frightened her. - She was frightened.
He scared her. - She is scared.
The phrase to be scared is slang and is inflected both weakly and strongly.
