Emotional Brains

The first time you loved. (hint: it doesn’t have to be another person. It could be your first car, dog, cat, your … fill in the blank.)   

Rational thought and emotions don’t play well together. Have you ever tried to reason with an angry person? 

The hypothalamus decides our responses to situations that lead to anger. It also determines our reactions to situations that cause us to love.  

Can’t stop thinking about your partner? Your new car? Is your dog lonely at home while you teach all day? That’s your hypothalamus.

Importantly, it doesn’t decide to fight, flee or freeze. That’s your amygdala. To kids, it’s the lizard brain—that lower-level reptilian response to threats. 

Hint: the amygdala is not where critical thinking takes place. Nor is the hypothalamus, although it passes messages to the areas that handle it.

To think critically about learning (or anything, really) requires the engagement of the cerebral cortex. Messages won’t be encoded into memories while the amygdala scans for threats.

Nor will they get past the hypothalamus if a strong emotion like anger (or love) has taken hold.

I love what I do, so I can share learning better. I’m engaged with it. Of course, you love teaching! You wouldn’t do it otherwise. 

Let’s ask a student: do you love what your teacher is sharing? Is it boring? 

Hint: The part of the brain complaining about boredom is not the cerebral cortex. It’s the amygdala, and it only wants to fight, flee or freeze.