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Amygdala hijack

That reaction you had before thinking has an explanation… just not as simple as people say.

Neuroscience · Daniel Goleman, 1995 Evidence: Debated

"Amygdala hijack" is a popular expression, not a scientific term. That the amygdala detects threats rapidly is well established; the idea that it "takes over" the brain is a simplification.

Sound familiar?

Someone says something at the worst possible moment and, before you know it, you've fired back something you regret. Five minutes later you're thinking: "Why did I say that?"

What it is

The expression "amygdala hijack" was popularised by journalist and psychologist Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence (1995).1 He used it to describe those fast, intense emotional reactions in which emotion seems to "take the wheel" before we can think.

Goleman drew on neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux's research on the amygdala, two small almond-shaped structures deep in the brain. LeDoux showed that information about possible threats can reach the amygdala via a fast route, before the cortex has fully processed it, and trigger defensive responses such as startling or a racing heart.2

The case

Some of the most striking evidence for the amygdala's role comes from a patient known as S. M., whose amygdalae on both sides were damaged by a rare disease.3

Researchers tried to frighten her in every way they could: with live snakes and spiders, a visit to a haunted house and horror films. She never showed fear, although she experienced other emotions normally.

What we know today

LeDoux himself has warned against calling the amygdala "the fear centre".4 He proposes distinguishing between survival circuits, which detect threats and trigger bodily responses automatically, and the conscious experience of fear, which involves other brain areas. That's why the idea of a "hijack" is a useful metaphor but a big simplification.

The good news is that emotions can be regulated. A 2007 brain-imaging study showed that simply putting a name to an emotion ("this is anger") reduced the amygdala's response to negative images.5 And emotion-regulation research has identified effective strategies, such as reappraising the situation.6

Myth vs. reality

Myth "The amygdala is the fear centre, and when it fires you can't control yourself."

Reality The amygdala detects threats and triggers fast responses, but it doesn't work alone and it isn't "fear" itself. And what you do after that first reaction is up to you.

In everyday life

  • Name it: saying (or thinking) "I'm really angry" already helps turn down the intensity.
  • Buy yourself time: wait before replying to a message or comment that has stirred you up.
  • Reappraise: is there another way to see what happened? Did they mean it, or were they having a bad day?

Sources

  1. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Bantam Books.
  2. LeDoux, J. E. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 155–184. doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.155
  3. Feinstein, J. S., Adolphs, R., Damasio, A., & Tranel, D. (2011). The human amygdala and the induction and experience of fear. Current Biology, 21(1), 34–38. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.042
  4. LeDoux, J. E., & Pine, D. S. (2016). Using neuroscience to help understand fear and anxiety: A two-system framework. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(11), 1083–1093. doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16030353
  5. Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x
  6. Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26. doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781