You know, I’ve seen it a hundred times. The emotional mind is quicker than the rational mind, and it can completely derail a project or a conversation before logic even gets a seat at the table. It’s that gut-reaction that often gets us into trouble before we’ve had a chance to think.
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Meaning
It means our feelings have a faster, more direct line to our actions than our logical thoughts do. It’s about that split-second where emotion takes the wheel.
Explanation
Look, here’s how I’ve come to see it. Your brain’s emotional center, the amygdala, is like a hyper-vigilant security system. It’s designed to react instantly to threats—or what it *perceives* as threats. And a perceived threat can be anything from a critical email to a weird look from your boss. That reaction is pure impulse. Your prefrontal cortex, the part that does the rational, careful thinking, is slower to boot up. It needs a few more milliseconds to process the situation. But by then, the emotional mind has already hit the alarm, flooded your system with cortisol, and you’ve sent that snarky reply you instantly regret. The hijack is real. It’s a biological reality, not just a metaphor.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Education (260) |
| Topics | emotion general (105), mind (39), reaction (8) |
| Literary Style | clear (348), scientific (57) |
| Emotion / Mood | calm (491), cautious (33) |
| Overall Quote Score | 76 (131) |
Origin & Factcheck
This is straight from Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence, which was a massive bestseller, especially in the US. You’ll sometimes see the core idea, the “amygdala hijack,” misattributed to other psychologists or pop-science writers, but the specific phrasing and popularization of this concept belongs to Goleman.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Dr Daniel Goleman (50) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Contemporary (1615) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | The emotional mind is quicker than the rational mind, and it can hijack our thoughts before reason has a chance to act |
| Book Details | Publication Year: 1995; ISBN: 978-0553375060; Last edition: 2005; Number of pages: 352 |
| Where is it? | Chapter: The Emotional Brain, Approximate page 34 from 2005 edition |