Basically, it seems that information enters the brain in two ways: the first way is via the sensors, and then through the pathways which processes this information. This takes slightly longer than the other pathway, which is directly to the amygdala: your own specialist in emotional matters. Feeling, passion, affection are all related to the amygdala – and research has shown that those who have had their amygdala removed or severed tend to have little or no affect (or they have blunted emotion). The way I understand the workings of the amygdala, is that, when we are faced with very primitive emotion, such as fear, hurt or hate, then the amygdala reacts instantaneously – before the rational part of the brain has had a chance to kick into action.
You have possibly experienced a situation when you reacted even before you registered that it had happened. This has happened to me – once when I saved my child from falling, before I had really registered that he was in danger. Goleman tells us that sensory signals from the sense organs travel first to the thalamus and then to the amygdala. A second signal from the thalamus travels to the neocortex or the thinking brain. The thinking brain sorts out the messages, and decides how best to respond to them. However, in an "emergency" the amygdala may cause us to react before the slightly slower (but better informed) thinking brain has had a chance to formulate its plan of action.
The fact that we are able to respond so quickly in an emergency could provide the difference between life and death – we react before we really know why. The trouble is, however, that we do not always have all the information at hand, and sometimes our reactions are inappropriate (like when you are alone at home, and knock your mother over the head with a frying pan when she returns unexpectedly).
Goleman goes on to say that "... in a sense we have two brains, two minds – and two different kinds of intelligence: rational and emotional ..." He talks of not being able to think straight when we are under emotional stress, and stresses that for adequate functioning, a person needs his emotional and intellectual intelligence to work together.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Bronwen Schoombie's Counselling/Therapy topic, please visit the Discussions page.