Il Matto
Jedi
First of all, many thanks to the SOTT editors for another informative and thought-provoking show.
Sadly, I have yet to be able to listen to the show live and so I usually have to play 'catch-up' at some point over the weekend - had I been able to listen to the live show on Friday I would have called in to share some thoughts on the prevalence of 'amygdala hijacking' in my line of work..
I work in education, with 11-18 year olds. Working with age range provides many an opportunity for seeing plenty of 'hijacking', as this SOTT article (https://www.sott.net/article/348262-How-to-avoid-the-Amygdala-hijack) noted:
So, of course, I'm quite likely to witness lots of amygdala hijacking with this age group, as it would appear that - in a large number of cases - the rational part of the brain simply isn't developed enough to 'kick-in' and prevent the hijacking. Given the - generally - authoritarian and stress inducing nature of the modern school environment, this really isn't that much of a shocker.
I did also get to thinking about the number of colleagues I have witnessed 'losing it', or succumbing to an amygdala hijack as I now understand to be the case. I can confess to having lost my cool on a couple of occasions in the past, over what were definitely insignificant events (such as young people 'testing boundaries'), and I'm tempted to relate at least a large proportion of these incidents amongst colleagues to threats to the ego, or as I like to refer to it: being disabused of the illusion of control! Unfortunately, such episodes of 'losing-it' are not as rare as they really should be in education.
I also began to wonder if there is the possibility that 'amygdala hijacking' can be easily 'spread' amongst (or through?) people who are unaware? Can others be 'agents' of this hijacking consciously, or more disturbingly, consciously?
Sadly, I have yet to be able to listen to the show live and so I usually have to play 'catch-up' at some point over the weekend - had I been able to listen to the live show on Friday I would have called in to share some thoughts on the prevalence of 'amygdala hijacking' in my line of work..
I work in education, with 11-18 year olds. Working with age range provides many an opportunity for seeing plenty of 'hijacking', as this SOTT article (https://www.sott.net/article/348262-How-to-avoid-the-Amygdala-hijack) noted:
So, of course, I'm quite likely to witness lots of amygdala hijacking with this age group, as it would appear that - in a large number of cases - the rational part of the brain simply isn't developed enough to 'kick-in' and prevent the hijacking. Given the - generally - authoritarian and stress inducing nature of the modern school environment, this really isn't that much of a shocker.
I did also get to thinking about the number of colleagues I have witnessed 'losing it', or succumbing to an amygdala hijack as I now understand to be the case. I can confess to having lost my cool on a couple of occasions in the past, over what were definitely insignificant events (such as young people 'testing boundaries'), and I'm tempted to relate at least a large proportion of these incidents amongst colleagues to threats to the ego, or as I like to refer to it: being disabused of the illusion of control! Unfortunately, such episodes of 'losing-it' are not as rare as they really should be in education.
I also began to wonder if there is the possibility that 'amygdala hijacking' can be easily 'spread' amongst (or through?) people who are unaware? Can others be 'agents' of this hijacking consciously, or more disturbingly, consciously?