Amygdala Hijack

The Thalamus region of the brain gets sensory data. Parts of this is sent to Amygdala(emotional/irrational part of the brain) and parts to the neocortex(thinking/rational brain). If the Amygdala matches it with an earlier threat stimulus, then it activates a shortcut(HPA/hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis) - and effectively takes over the brain overriding the rational area.

Emotional brain works faster(by milliseconds) than the rational parts - so Amygdala can act before instructions from neocortex as ready. This is to improve the survivability in threatening situations. Some characteristics of such a response include...

  • strong emotional reaction
  • sudden onset
  • post-episode realization if the reaction was inappropriate

The pause method can help with this - but it requires training. You'll have to teach your neocortex to inhibit your Amygdala.

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Emotions in Sharing Content

Content than make you emotional are more likely to be spread/shared. The best emotion to get you to do things is anger. Anger bypasses the mental "immune systems" and gets you to act faster(think Amygdala Hijack). These ideas will go

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Published on: May 12, 2021

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