Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: stana on 19/01/2008 19:45:31
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Ive noticed this (mostly in girls) But i just jump back and get woken up!
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Good question
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Is it to release energy produced by the adrenaline released for the 'flight or fight' reflex?
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But why scream..surely the brain would of used the 'screaming' energy for something more useful?
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Yes you'd think so- maybe it's to frighten any would-be predator, so they would have time to escape......?
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I dunno about you..but someone screaming wouldnt put me off getting them if i wanted them [:P]
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Oh that's scarey AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
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Mostly it is an alarm call. This may either cause others to come to one's aid, or to cause others to run away from the threat and so protect themselves. In the former case, the alarm is a selfish act that may help one survive the threat, and in the latter case, it is an altruistic act that would help others protect themselves from the situation you perceive to threaten you.
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Thinking a bit more about what I said above, and why women and children are more likely to scream than men. The following is pure speculation on my part.
Women and children tend (in early human history) to stay closer to the home territory, so if there is a threat, then it makes sense for them to signal to the kinsfolk to either come to their aid, or to flee for their lives.
Men are as likely to go far from the home territory (hunting or going to war), so if they were to scream, they would as likely alert their enemies to their plight as to alert their kinsfolk.
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Thanks..but women still scream at scary things when the area around them is full..for e.g ascary movie in the movies..a woman will scream even though she knows the movies is full??
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The fact that everyone screams when they are scared, as do other animals, suggests that it must have some evolutionary benefit to be so strongly conserved as a reactive behaviour. Two benefits of screaming when confronted with a dangerous or unpredictable situation are obvious: it alerts others nearby to the danger. This is typified best by the meerkats in Africa. These are highly social creatures that live in large dependent family colonies. Members of the colony keep watch for eagles and other predators and sound the alarm when they spot one. This collective vigilance makes it much more difficult for predators to creep up on an unaware individual.
Secondly, as already highlighted above, making a sudden, unpredictable loud noise can surprise and deter the predator, buying the individual time to escape or react.
Chris
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Thanks..but women still scream at scary things when the area around them is full..for e.g ascary movie in the movies..a woman will scream even though she knows the movies is full??
When people do things in such a contrived environment, one which the regularly frequent, and can easily predict the environment they are entering, one has to ask whether they are really reacting in a natural way or whether it is social conditioning (e.g. the women may scream because the other women scream, and they don't want to seem un-womanlike, so they scream too).
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I think I can offer a third interpretation.
What about when faced with an impending event in that it's known that no help will be forthcoming and no amount of screaming will cease the event ?.....where the outcome of death is inevitable ?....screaming still occurs !
I think this is a third interpretation and this is one of preparation for the inevitable, a release of fear as the tension must be overwhelming !
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I think I can offer a third interpretation.
What about when faced with an impending event in that it's known that no help will be forthcoming and no amount of screaming will cease the event ?.....where the outcome of death is inevitable ?....screaming still occurs !
I think this is a third interpretation and this is one of preparation for the inevitable, a release of fear as the tension must be overwhelming !
I think the issue here is that when you ask questions such as 'why', you can get a cascade of reasons.
It is perfectly reasonable to argue for psychological reasons for doing something, but then one can ask why were humans (or other animals) built with such a psychological need, so one can then ask behind that, what was the evolutionary imperative that caused humans to have the psychology they have?
I suppose I was looking one layer deeper into the cascade than you were. It does not make either answer an alternative to the other, since it still allows both answers to co-exist.
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I think I can offer a third interpretation.
What about when faced with an impending event in that it's known that no help will be forthcoming and no amount of screaming will cease the event ?.....where the outcome of death is inevitable ?....screaming still occurs !
I think this is a third interpretation and this is one of preparation for the inevitable, a release of fear as the tension must be overwhelming !
I think the issue here is that when you ask questions such as 'why', you can get a cascade of reasons.
It is perfectly reasonable to argue for psychological reasons for doing something, but then one can ask why were humans (or other animals) built with such a psychological need, so one can then ask behind that, what was the evolutionary imperative that caused humans to have the psychology they have?
I suppose I was looking one layer deeper into the cascade than you were. It does not make either answer an alternative to the other, since it still allows both answers to co-exist.
My interpretation was offered as an ' additional '...not as an ' instead of '
Let's not forget the question...in this case it was specifically to do with fear.
There are of course screams of pleasure, anxiety, excitement, anticipation et al.....
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....icecream- aaaaaaggghh! See!