style="font-size:15px;"> It’s the basic survival mechanism that sets off our fight or flight mechanism. It served us well when we were becoming human, coming down from trees and living in caves. The trouble is it’s still functioning in much the same way today.
The limbic system also stores our emotional memories. It has what I call a database of ‘nasty things’, and is constantly checking, in every situation: is this something that could harm me? Something that I should fear? If the answer is ‘yes’, then the amygdala instantaneously triggers our survival response.
When this happens, your heart rate suddenly races, your muscles tense, your palms feel sweaty, and you might even feel sick. This is because your amygdala, having sensed a threat, signals other parts of the brain to prepare your body to fight off the threat, or flee, i.e. run like mad in the opposite direction. Adrenaline surges through your bloodstream, priming you for survival. This is known as the “fight or flight” reaction.
Has this happened to you?
You’ve almost certainly experienced this survival response. For example, you’re driving along listening to the radio when, out of the corner of your eye, you see a shape moving on the road in front of you. Without even thinking, you slam your foot on the brake, bringing the car to a shuddering halt.
Now if you’d been concentrating on the road and your driving, really concentrating, you would have realised that the shape was only a shadow. But the radio station was playing one of your favourite songs, one that brought back great memories, so you were driving on autopilot. You weren’t thinking, but your amygdala was on the lookout.
In that split second when your amygdala ‘sees’ the shadow, it makes you slam on the brakes. Adrenaline shoots through your body, your heart thumps, you start to shake, and maybe the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You realise a split second later that the shape you saw was nothing more than a shadow, but by then it’s too late. When you braked without warning, the driver in the car behind you also had to brake suddenly, but wasn’t quick enough to avoid running into the rear end of your car!
The next thing you know, you’re out of your car yelling at the person who smashed into you, but the reality is, when you think about it calmly, you probably feel embarrassed. You realise that if you’d been paying attention to the road, instead of being lost in the feelings brought on by the song, the accident would not have happened. In fact, you feel like an idiot. You just experienced The Almond Effect®. Your amygdala quickly assessed the shadow as a threat, and you reacted accordingly. But unfortunately, it got it wrong. Expensively!
Why does our brain react to a threat without thinking?
Here’s another example. You’re in your garden, and you see what looks like a long, dark, narrow shape along your back fence. Chances are you’ll jump back and grab the nearest garden spade or weapon you can find and start bashing it. Your heart will start to race. Your muscles will tense. You’ll get the shakes.
Your brain’s alarm systems are shouting, ‘Snake! Snake!’ Just an instant later, you realise that the shape is simply an old piece of garden hose, and you feel a bit stupid when you see your neighbour laughing at you over the fence!
But here’s what happened in your head. When your eyes saw the shape, the images travelled in two directions at once inside your brain: to your amygdala, and to your neo-cortex - the thinking part of your brain.
The way your brain works, your amygdala, focused solely on your survival above all else, got the rudimentary images first. Using the database of ‘nasty things’, it quickly matched its first glance at the garden hose to a shape it knew from past experience was a threat, a snake. The warning system was activated, and you were primed for action, with adrenaline pumping through your body, making you take instant action (grabbing the spade) without taking the time to think about it.
A fraction of a second later, your neo-cortex also received the image, realised it was only a piece of garden hose, and told the amygdala that it was in fact, nothing to worry about. So your body had fired into action without thinking, and got it wrong. This is The Almond Effect®.
The amygdala can take control of our actions even as the thinking brain, the neo-cortex, is still working out what’s the best way to respond. The Almond Effect® occurs when an impulsive feeling overrides the rational response.
The trouble is, this response, while appropriate when we are in life-threatening situations, often catches us out in non-life threatening moments at work and at home, leaving us to say later: ‘If I’d thought about it, I wouldn’t have done/said that’.
The Almond Effect® in action when you’re working
Imagine you’re in a strategy meeting at work. Without warning, and in front of your team, your manager questions whether you’ve thought through the implications of your recommendations in the report the meeting is considering. You’ve been working on it for three weeks straight, you’re tired, and now you’re suddenly embarrassed in front of your team.
Without stopping to think, you snarl back: “I’ve spent the last three weeks of my life not having a life, focusing 100% on these issues. Do you honestly think I wouldn’t have thought about what I’m recommending?’
The other people in the meeting squirm, and moments later, you regret this potentially CLM (career limiting move). You wish you’d just drawn a deep breath, and taken the time to respond in a calmer manner, but instead, you experienced The Almond Effect®. Your amygdala heard the words from the manager, interpreted them as a threat to your standing with your team, and sent you straight into survival mode, which this time was ‘fight’.
Or maybe you’re working in a call centre. It’s been a long shift, and you’re almost ready to go home. Suddenly a call comes in, and the customer shouts: “You’re an idiot! Why are you always trying to steal from me? You’re just a thief and a racist!” Your instant reaction is to shout back: ‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that’, and then it’s on. Ultimately, the customer takes their account elsewhere, and your supervisor threatens you with dismissal. It’s a thoroughly horrible experience that could have been avoided if only you’d been able to manage The Almond Effect®. If only you’d been able to stay cool when provoked, and stop your amygdala from responding to a wrongly perceived threat, rushing into survival mode, and causing you to fight back.
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