What is polyvagal theory?

Example: Your manager announces a surprise deadline compression on Wednesday. You notice your jaw clench and your internal monologue fire up with counter-arguments about why this timeline is impossible. That's fight. Your colleague in the same meeting starts mentally composing her resignation letter. That's flight. The junior developer stares at his laptop and goes silent for the rest of the standup. That's freeze. The project lead immediately volunteers to absorb the extra work personally, canceling her weekend plans without being asked. That's fawn. Same pressure. Four different automatic responses. None of them were chosen.

This concept is part of Autonomy Under Pressure in the How to Think curriculum.