Do you think that watching too many horror films can fry out a person's fight or flight response in that they may no longer respond appropriately when faced with real danger?
by 
bowlinggreen
ANSWERS: 7
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No more than answering silly questions can hinder your ability to answer scientifically in others :P
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I don't think so... but I also don't know any psychological study on this topic to say that there is a trend either way.
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No. If someone is confronted with danger in real life I am sure they will react appropriately (ie, self defence, running away fromt he danger)
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Yes, it's a scientific fact. It's termed "desensitization."
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I highly doubt it. Horror films seldom reflect real life, and when confronted with a threat to one's life, the survival instinct kicks in at its most primal, and that is what drives us to survive, not logic. No time to think about running upstairs, because you know that outside is better, without thinking about it, for example. That is, unless you have some weird life and your entire disposition is gnarly and crookedly conditioned in some way or another, but I doubt that a life time of horror films would ever be able to achieve this in any significant or crucial ways. Any life threatening situation that occurs otherwise and allows you to think about your actions is driven by fear, and I don't think you would have the time to think of horror films and ask yourself what would have been done then. The closest thing I could think of is influence, but that's a different thing, and I stress that real life events don't turn out like in horror films, so it might be really different.
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Hardly. What has actual effect is the daily life one encounters in the modern world. At a job or driving in any big city, for example, one can be faced minute to minute with stress that builds up and can be extremely damaging over time (If one is not aware nor able to detach). In these situations, there is no fight nor flight, which in ancient times would be the appropriate response. Most of us now just bottle it up and this results in many health problems...
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Yes, it can. There are a number of books out that go into quite a bit of detail about how we train our nervous systems. Training yourself to not respond and simply observe danger is referred to as "desensitization". On the other side of things, through testing and studies, the army found out that the most effective way to train a solder to pull the trigger during battle and kill someone was to have them play video games. This is now what the army uses to train solders to become battle ready and not freeze in real confrontations. First person shooter videos. However you train your nervous system is how you will respond when the levels of stress blank out the conscious mind and you are running on pure adrenaline. If you're really interested in the subject, here's book a I highly suggest you read. You'll understand after you read it why anyone who says what you watch or do makes no difference, has no real world understanding of what they're talking about - http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Psychology-Physiology-Deadly-Conflict/dp/0964920522/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214067228&sr=1-1
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