In our private lives many of us will have experienced that flash of anger, often with one’s marital partner, that drives us to say and do hurtful things. At that very moment a part of our consciousness is saying, stop, don’t say this, yet we are trapped into a pattern of behavior that is endlessly repeating itself and we watch on as helpless victims of our own actions. In the corporate world a four second outburst can tarnish a manager’s career forever. It is what becomes chiseled in others mind about you. How does this happen and what can we do to prevent this loss of rational thought and reputation.
Daniel Goleman has put forward an elegant explanation for this process. All our sensations, sight, sound, etc are routed to part of the brain called the thalamus. The thalamus acts as an “air traffic controller” and in typical situations directs these sensations or impulses to the cortex– the thinking part of the brain – for processing. The cortex “thinks” about the impulse and reaches a decision, This decision or signal is then sent to the amygdale where a flood of peptides and hormones are released to create emotion and action
In what Daniel Goleman labeled the “Hijacking of the Amygdala” the thalamus has a different reaction. Like any skilled air traffic controller, the thalamus can quickly react to potential threat. In that case, it bypasses the cortex -- the thinking brain -- and the signal goes straight to the amygdala. The amygdala is the emotional part of the brain, which regulates the fight or flight response. When threatened, it can respond irrationally. A rush of stress hormones floods the body before the prefrontal lobes (regulating executive function) can mediate this reaction. The amygdale, while a much faster “processor” than the cortex, can only react based on previously stored patterns
The stimuli comes in from the eyes or ears and goes immediately to thalamus and it then goes right to amygdala before a signal reaches the cortex. This survival mechanism lets us react to things before the rational brain has time to mull things over. It has been found the amygdala in animals can respond to a perception in as little as twelve thousands of a second. So the antennae are up in the amygdala to constantly scan the environment for anything that may hurt us or things to fear.
Any strong emotion, anxiety, anger, joy, or betrayal trips off the amygdala and impairs the prefrontal cortex’s working memory. The power of emotions overwhelms rationality. That is why when we are emotionally upset or stressed we can’t think straight. Sometimes this kind of reaction can save our lives. More frequently it leads us to say something harmful, to escalate the situation, or even to violence.
To minimize the damage from hijacking, it is important to practice patterns which lead to de-escalation. From that hijacked state, that condition where your brain is flooded with electro-chemicals, you still have options. You do not need to stay hijacked -- you still can choose actions. After all, the chemicals do not persist -- they will dissipate in three to six seconds.
Matthew Lieberman, a neuroscientist has found an inverse relationship between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s executive function where rational thought and judgment sit. When the amygdala is active with blood and oxygen, there is less activation in the prefrontal cortex. Our thinking power is disrupted and there are deficits in our problem solving, because the blood and oxygen are in the amygdala versus the prefrontal cortex. It is like losing 10 to 15 IQ points temporarily, which explains “what was I thinking?” So we are thinking but with less capacity and brain power.
In the pre emotional hijack stage, the biochemicals such as adrenaline are just beginning to kick in. There is still some 'wriggle room' to use stress management techniques and listen to the signals coming from your body in order to manage the angry response more effectively. At this stage self-awareness is critical because this is what enables the student to understand what their body is saying to them. If they pick these messages up they will be able to buy themselves time to keep the biochemical soup from becoming too concentrated. At this point they can use counting to 10, asking someone else for help, visualizing, humor and other methods that break the cycle.
In the post-emotional hijack stage when the brain has become flooded with emotional charges, it is important to take at least 20 minutes to calm down before starting on any negotiation, reparation or other conflict management techniques. At this point, the important skills are active listening and empathy, after that comes conflict resolution
Article Contributed by Chris Fenney, Co-founder and Director of Training Edge InternationalEmail : chris.fenney@trainingedgeasia.com
Website : www.trainingedgeasia.com
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