Amygdala Hijack

An amygdala hijack is an immediate and overwhelming emotional response that is disproportionate to the actual stimulus because it has triggered a more significant perceived threat; the term was coined by Daniel Goleman in his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ and is recognized as a formal term within affective neuroscience. Each brain hemisphere contains an amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure located near the hippocampus and temporal lobe that plays a crucial role in detecting and learning which aspects of the environment are emotionally significant and in generating emotions, particularly negative ones such as fear; amygdala activation often occurs when a person perceives a potential threat, helping shape decisions based on related past memories.