In the car yesterday when Patty, my wife, accidentally pressed the little red button on her keys. Lots of loud noise ensued, with Patty jumping out of her skin and jabbing at every button she could find to turn off the caterwauling.
When she finally managed to silence the alarm: “Good name for this button,” she said, “I press it and it makes me panic!”
Patty’s cortical thinking (analysis, sequencing) was shut down due to the flood of emotions pushing her to protect herself in this “dangerous” situation. This reaction, which Goleman called “Hijacking the Amygdala” after Joesph LeDoux’s scientific research on the process, is often described as a “primitive” or even “bad” emotional response. Yet it beautifully illustrates the primacy of emotion and the way feelings drive us. The trick, as Patty found, is to learn — in advance — how to push the “un panic” button.