Govern Your Amygdala to Handle Conflict Better and Safeguard Trust

There's lots of research showing that if you can't manage conflict effectively, your teams' performance will suffer, and that is because the overall level of trust will be degraded.

One of the chief antagonists within relationships of all kinds--including those at in the workplace between teammates--is a structure within our own brains called the amygdala, a structure that in evolutionary history first appeared in the brains of the earliest mammals. The amygdala's function is to decode emotions, and in particular, to identify threats. In the presence of a threat the amygdala detonates a rapid, reflexive "fight-or-flight" response in its owner.

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In the field of human relations, a rapid, reflexive "fight-or-flight" reaction in the course of an ordinary day would be called an Amygdala Hijack. It's where your left brain shuts down, your higher executive functions switch off, and the fight-or-flight response is left in charge of you!

That's something that happens quite commonly. It's a pitfall to watch out for. And in this video Dr. Berney explains more.

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