Thursday
Oct282010
Amygdala highjack
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 9:15AM
What is the difference between the neo-cortex and limbic system? Why spend so much time speaking about how the brain works? Those are valid questions, but I have my reasons: To understand others, you must understand yourself... our minds, our reasoning, our thinking is hardwired for survival on the great african plains, not in the modern society constructed during the last two centuries. Our biology plays tricks on us, how that works is good to know.
Photo by Blatantnews.com Flickr CC
The one important question throughout evolution is: "Can I eat it, or will it eat me?". This is not a question you want to think about for a long time, at least not if it's a lion you're looking at.
We have a built in system for handling these types of situations. The signals from our eyes is split into two, one for deeper analysis and one goes to the amygdala, the hair-trigger alarm system. The amygdala has the power to override everything else, to close down reasoning as well as digestion, to put all systems on full alert and pump energy to our limbs: This is not a good recipe for being well-behaved and considerate. This is what happens when you lose control and start to scream at your closest family or employees. It is unacceptable, but an explainable and foreseeable reaction based on out-dated survival circuitry.
Daniel Goleman, the author of several best-sellers on how the brain works has a wonderful lecture on YouTube where he explains the circutry leading to "amygdala highjack".
In the martial arts, we go through dangerous situations repeatedly thousands of times. As you progress your reactions become more and more effective. More and more you are able to observe instead of react with panic - less and less reacting from the limbic system and more and more rational thinking. Naturally you start to understand that the attacker always loses, that the fury in the attack creates vulnerability.
There is no fury in the attack of the lion. It just goes out to pick its prey, aggression yes but no fury, all very controlled. In business you can be no push-over, sometimes you have to take affirmative action, but keep your cool. Luckily there is a method for that.
In special education there is a well-tested strategy called the ABC method: If you observe and analyse the three stages of ANTECEDENTS, BEHAVIOR and CONSEQUENCE - you can learn to observe the amygdala's reactions and identify when the hair-trigger is to sensitive. It is a way of bringing reason to emotion.
If you see somebody being high-jacked by their amygdala, send us a tweet on @theopenmanager, or a write a comment below - it's more common than you might think.
Photo by Blatantnews.com Flickr CCWhat is Amygdala highjack?
The one important question throughout evolution is: "Can I eat it, or will it eat me?". This is not a question you want to think about for a long time, at least not if it's a lion you're looking at.
We have a built in system for handling these types of situations. The signals from our eyes is split into two, one for deeper analysis and one goes to the amygdala, the hair-trigger alarm system. The amygdala has the power to override everything else, to close down reasoning as well as digestion, to put all systems on full alert and pump energy to our limbs: This is not a good recipe for being well-behaved and considerate. This is what happens when you lose control and start to scream at your closest family or employees. It is unacceptable, but an explainable and foreseeable reaction based on out-dated survival circuitry.
Daniel Goleman, the author of several best-sellers on how the brain works has a wonderful lecture on YouTube where he explains the circutry leading to "amygdala highjack".
The good news: You can do something about it
In the martial arts, we go through dangerous situations repeatedly thousands of times. As you progress your reactions become more and more effective. More and more you are able to observe instead of react with panic - less and less reacting from the limbic system and more and more rational thinking. Naturally you start to understand that the attacker always loses, that the fury in the attack creates vulnerability.
You can still be aggressive when needed
There is no fury in the attack of the lion. It just goes out to pick its prey, aggression yes but no fury, all very controlled. In business you can be no push-over, sometimes you have to take affirmative action, but keep your cool. Luckily there is a method for that.
The ABC method
In special education there is a well-tested strategy called the ABC method: If you observe and analyse the three stages of ANTECEDENTS, BEHAVIOR and CONSEQUENCE - you can learn to observe the amygdala's reactions and identify when the hair-trigger is to sensitive. It is a way of bringing reason to emotion.
If you see somebody being high-jacked by their amygdala, send us a tweet on @theopenmanager, or a write a comment below - it's more common than you might think.
Reader Comments