Amygdala Hijack
Few days back I attended a team building session with the client team here at Hartford and I learnt new term “Amygdala Hijack”. It is wonderful concept to know. We all have experienced this in our daily routine. I was going through multiple articles and tried to compile my understanding and learning from that session.
Disclaimer: References are listed below. It is just a compilation and not creation
Brief Background:
In front of 28.8 billion viewers in 213 countries Zinedine Zidane, a world-wide soccer role model, lost his self-control and head butted Marco Materazzi in 2006 World Cup Soccer finals. Zidane was kicked out of the game. France lost the World Cup to Italy and Zidane’s career ended in disgrace and wonderment “what was he thinking?” Again, he wasn’t.
Zidane’s surprising and aggressive response demonstrates the three signs of the “Amygdala hijack”: strong emotional reaction, sudden onset, and regret for your actions when you reflect later.
Zidane apologized to the children for his act, but remained unrepentant to Materazzi and rationalized that Materazzi’s statements provoked him. Zidane’s comments demonstrate the seriousness of his high profile hijack. His logic was suppressed by the powerful tunnel vision survival reaction of the Amygdala. No one can make you do something against your better judgment, but the Amygdala always can.
Zidane rationalized later that he knew there were only minutes left in his last career game and Materazzi response demanded retaliation. He was not thinking logically at that time and his response characterizes what we call “cognitive dissonance” in explaining his behavior. In other words, there must have been a good reason to do something so stupid in front of 28.8 billion viewers.
We now know there are two minds one that thinks and one that feels. The research by Joseph Le Doux reported by Goleman (1995), states “…the architecture of the brain gives the Amygdala a privileged position as the emotional sentinel, able to hijack the brain.”
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 Neocortex. This survival mechanism lets us react to things before the rational brain has time to mull things over. The hair trigger Amygdala though can be sloppy and distort things in this quick reaction.
It has been found the Amygdala in animals can respond to a perception in as little as twelve thousands of a second. So the antennas are up in the Amygdala to constantly scan the environment for anything that may hurt us or things to fear.
So let’s understand what exactly Amygdala and Neocortex are responsible for?
What is Amygdala?
The Amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobe of the brain. It is a limbic system structure that is involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. The Amygdala is involved in the processing of emotions such as fear, anger and pleasure. The Amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event invokes.
In short, it controls your “Emotional Responsiveness”
What is Neocortex?
Also called the cerebral cortex, the Neocortex constitutes five-sixths of the human brain. It is the outer portion of our brain, and is approximately the size of a newspaper page crumpled together. The Neocortex makes language, including speech and writing possible. It renders logical and formal operational thinking possible and allows us to see ahead and plan for the future. The Neocortex also contains two specialized regions, one dedicated to voluntary movement and one to processing sensory information.
In short, responsible for “Logical Responsiveness”
In real world, our response to any situation is controlled by these 2 parts of the brain. Neocortex takes almost a second or two to generate response however Amygdala, processes within 1 to 2 nanoseconds, so 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.
In day to day life we do experience a situation where everything is blackout and we are completely driven by emotions instead of us controlling emotions.
The Emotional Audit
A leadership tool that can help with both self awareness and self-management is called the “Emotional Audit.” It is designed to ask strategic questions and that can change the focus when a person is emotionally charged or about to get hijacked. When you are counting to ten to calm down ask these questions to better direct your brain’s thinking.
This audit is helpful, especially if you are feeling “triggered” by someone or something. Wait 5 seconds till you get answer to each question. To build your self-awareness and self-management, use the audit numerous times during the day. You may notice certain patterns you have to what triggers you, how you are feeling and how you get in your way.
Below are the strategic questions and hypothesized brain components that may be accessed with these questions in order. The goal is to refocus activity away from the Amygdala and light up other aspects the brain to gain more cognitive control and give you constructive options and direction. The first two questions access and label your thoughts and emotions. The third questions makes conscious your or intentions. The fourth question evaluates your actions in line with your intentions. Patterns of how you get in your way may emerge. The last question takes in all this new conscious data and allows you to better direct your brain and actions for the goals you want.
What am I thinking? (Basal ganglia- integrates feeling thoughts and movements)
What am I feeling? (Basal ganglia- integrates feeling thoughts and movements) Temporal Lobes – emotional stability, name it to tame it – labeling affect)
What do I want now? (Cerebellum – executive functions connects to Prefrontol Cortex (PFC), cognitive integration)
How am I getting in my way? Prefrontal Cortex – learning from mistakes
What do I need to do differently now? (Prefrontal Cortex –the boss supervision of life – executive functioning planning goal setting, insight) (Anterior Cingulate Gyrus brain’s gear shifter– see options, go from idea to idea)
Anatomy of a hijack example: John was a leader who was known to have a hot temper. He was aware of it and his supervisor had it as a part of his performance review. He was at an internal national sales meeting presenting to his constituents when “he lost it” by yelling at some of his team members during the presentation to put their computers away. There was hush and awkwardness as he continued his presentation. This was very embarrassing for him and cemented his “hot head image” and limited his promotion possibilities.
What happened? John felt extreme pressure to do a good job. He prepared well and did the whole presentation himself. He did not delegate any of the preparation or delivery to his team members. Before the presentation a few people came to him and said they were not going to make his presentation because they were going to play golf with some of the executives. This was very irritating to him. John also was trying to stay on schedule and his time got shortened so he was trying to squeeze a lot in. It was also at the end of the day where his energies and his audience were dissipating. At the beginning of his presentation some members of his team were answering emails on their computers in the back of the room. This upset him as he thought it was unprofessional of them, embarrassing as it was his team and he was resentful that he was doing everything, even though it was decision. He saw them later in the presentation again with their computers open answering emails. The Amygadala saw this as major violation and all the stress mounted to an emotional reaction. He “lost it again” was the result.
As he was getting triggered with the second email violation and felt his tension, building an emotional audit could have revealed:
What am I thinking: What are they doing, I already told them to put the computers away.
What am I feeling: I am so frustrated with them, I can’t believe this.
What do I want: I want them to put the computers away and support me here.
How am I getting in my way: I am fuming and not calming myself down. I am ready to pounce on them.
What do I need to do differently: I need to take a breath and walk over there and quietly say something to them.
We all get hijacked at times, but great leaders know themselves well, anticipate situations that may be stressful for them and take preventative measures. In the stressful moment, they have know what they are feeling AND thinking and have multiple constructive solutions to handle the Amygdala hijack and maintain their top performance.
References:
Wikipedia
http://www.busmanagement.com/article/What-Was-I-Thinking-Handling-the-Hijack/
http://www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/bcp/brainbasics/triune.html
Disclaimer: References are listed below. It is just a compilation and not creation
Brief Background:
In front of 28.8 billion viewers in 213 countries Zinedine Zidane, a world-wide soccer role model, lost his self-control and head butted Marco Materazzi in 2006 World Cup Soccer finals. Zidane was kicked out of the game. France lost the World Cup to Italy and Zidane’s career ended in disgrace and wonderment “what was he thinking?” Again, he wasn’t.
Zidane’s surprising and aggressive response demonstrates the three signs of the “Amygdala hijack”: strong emotional reaction, sudden onset, and regret for your actions when you reflect later.
Zidane apologized to the children for his act, but remained unrepentant to Materazzi and rationalized that Materazzi’s statements provoked him. Zidane’s comments demonstrate the seriousness of his high profile hijack. His logic was suppressed by the powerful tunnel vision survival reaction of the Amygdala. No one can make you do something against your better judgment, but the Amygdala always can.
Zidane rationalized later that he knew there were only minutes left in his last career game and Materazzi response demanded retaliation. He was not thinking logically at that time and his response characterizes what we call “cognitive dissonance” in explaining his behavior. In other words, there must have been a good reason to do something so stupid in front of 28.8 billion viewers.
We now know there are two minds one that thinks and one that feels. The research by Joseph Le Doux reported by Goleman (1995), states “…the architecture of the brain gives the Amygdala a privileged position as the emotional sentinel, able to hijack the brain.”
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 Neocortex. This survival mechanism lets us react to things before the rational brain has time to mull things over. The hair trigger Amygdala though can be sloppy and distort things in this quick reaction.
It has been found the Amygdala in animals can respond to a perception in as little as twelve thousands of a second. So the antennas are up in the Amygdala to constantly scan the environment for anything that may hurt us or things to fear.
So let’s understand what exactly Amygdala and Neocortex are responsible for?
What is Amygdala?
The Amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobe of the brain. It is a limbic system structure that is involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. The Amygdala is involved in the processing of emotions such as fear, anger and pleasure. The Amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event invokes.
In short, it controls your “Emotional Responsiveness”
What is Neocortex?
Also called the cerebral cortex, the Neocortex constitutes five-sixths of the human brain. It is the outer portion of our brain, and is approximately the size of a newspaper page crumpled together. The Neocortex makes language, including speech and writing possible. It renders logical and formal operational thinking possible and allows us to see ahead and plan for the future. The Neocortex also contains two specialized regions, one dedicated to voluntary movement and one to processing sensory information.
In short, responsible for “Logical Responsiveness”
In real world, our response to any situation is controlled by these 2 parts of the brain. Neocortex takes almost a second or two to generate response however Amygdala, processes within 1 to 2 nanoseconds, so 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.
In day to day life we do experience a situation where everything is blackout and we are completely driven by emotions instead of us controlling emotions.
The Emotional Audit
A leadership tool that can help with both self awareness and self-management is called the “Emotional Audit.” It is designed to ask strategic questions and that can change the focus when a person is emotionally charged or about to get hijacked. When you are counting to ten to calm down ask these questions to better direct your brain’s thinking.
This audit is helpful, especially if you are feeling “triggered” by someone or something. Wait 5 seconds till you get answer to each question. To build your self-awareness and self-management, use the audit numerous times during the day. You may notice certain patterns you have to what triggers you, how you are feeling and how you get in your way.
Below are the strategic questions and hypothesized brain components that may be accessed with these questions in order. The goal is to refocus activity away from the Amygdala and light up other aspects the brain to gain more cognitive control and give you constructive options and direction. The first two questions access and label your thoughts and emotions. The third questions makes conscious your or intentions. The fourth question evaluates your actions in line with your intentions. Patterns of how you get in your way may emerge. The last question takes in all this new conscious data and allows you to better direct your brain and actions for the goals you want.
What am I thinking? (Basal ganglia- integrates feeling thoughts and movements)
What am I feeling? (Basal ganglia- integrates feeling thoughts and movements) Temporal Lobes – emotional stability, name it to tame it – labeling affect)
What do I want now? (Cerebellum – executive functions connects to Prefrontol Cortex (PFC), cognitive integration)
How am I getting in my way? Prefrontal Cortex – learning from mistakes
What do I need to do differently now? (Prefrontal Cortex –the boss supervision of life – executive functioning planning goal setting, insight) (Anterior Cingulate Gyrus brain’s gear shifter– see options, go from idea to idea)
Anatomy of a hijack example: John was a leader who was known to have a hot temper. He was aware of it and his supervisor had it as a part of his performance review. He was at an internal national sales meeting presenting to his constituents when “he lost it” by yelling at some of his team members during the presentation to put their computers away. There was hush and awkwardness as he continued his presentation. This was very embarrassing for him and cemented his “hot head image” and limited his promotion possibilities.
What happened? John felt extreme pressure to do a good job. He prepared well and did the whole presentation himself. He did not delegate any of the preparation or delivery to his team members. Before the presentation a few people came to him and said they were not going to make his presentation because they were going to play golf with some of the executives. This was very irritating to him. John also was trying to stay on schedule and his time got shortened so he was trying to squeeze a lot in. It was also at the end of the day where his energies and his audience were dissipating. At the beginning of his presentation some members of his team were answering emails on their computers in the back of the room. This upset him as he thought it was unprofessional of them, embarrassing as it was his team and he was resentful that he was doing everything, even though it was decision. He saw them later in the presentation again with their computers open answering emails. The Amygadala saw this as major violation and all the stress mounted to an emotional reaction. He “lost it again” was the result.
As he was getting triggered with the second email violation and felt his tension, building an emotional audit could have revealed:
What am I thinking: What are they doing, I already told them to put the computers away.
What am I feeling: I am so frustrated with them, I can’t believe this.
What do I want: I want them to put the computers away and support me here.
How am I getting in my way: I am fuming and not calming myself down. I am ready to pounce on them.
What do I need to do differently: I need to take a breath and walk over there and quietly say something to them.
We all get hijacked at times, but great leaders know themselves well, anticipate situations that may be stressful for them and take preventative measures. In the stressful moment, they have know what they are feeling AND thinking and have multiple constructive solutions to handle the Amygdala hijack and maintain their top performance.
References:
Wikipedia
http://www.busmanagement.com/article/What-Was-I-Thinking-Handling-the-Hijack/
http://www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/bcp/brainbasics/triune.html
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