The Science Behind Emotional Hijacking and How to Manage It

Our brain is a fine tuned machine, efficiently utilizing different processes to match external demands. During emergencies, the order of information processing shifts, body functions change, and we move into protective mode. This state is known for its reactive responses of fight, flee, and freeze. The amygdala, the part of the brain that serves as an emotional processor, hijacks thinking processes during crisis. Daniel Goleman coined the term ’emotional hijacking’ to describe this emergency reactive state in his best selling book emotional intelligence.

The Amygdala Hijack

The amygdala regulates the flight or fight response. When we sense imminent danger, drawing from surrounding circumstances, our system releases  adrenaline into our bodies to prepare for battle with the perceived danger.

During emotional hijacking, the hormonal changes flowing through our blood disable the higher cortex of the brain, preventing rational decisions while hastening our ability to respond quickly. Daniel Goleman explains it this way:

“A center in the limbic brain proclaims an emergency, recruiting the rest of the brain to its urgent agenda” (Goleman, 2005).

The hijacking happens in an instant, quickly flooding our system with energy “before the neocortex, the thinking brain, has had a chance to glimpse fully what is happening, let alone decide if it is a good idea” (Goleman, 2005).

T. Franklin Murphy wrote:

“A raised voice, a shadow, an uncomfortable question, a critical remark, unexpected change, or a crazed man with a ninja sword move the body through physiological changes. Depending on the immediacy and severity of the information, the heart speeds, blood flows, and complex cognitive appraisal are suspended” (Murphy, 2014).

Goleman explains:

“A threat or endangerment can be signaled not just by an outright physical threat but also, as is more often the case, by a symbolic threat to self-esteem or dignity: being treated unjustly or rudely, being insulted or demeaned, being frustrated in pursuing an important goal. These perceptions act as the instigating trigger for a limbic surge that has a dual effect on the brain. One part of that surge is a release of catecholamines, which generate a quick, episodic rush of energy, enough for “one course of vigorous action” (Goleman, 2005).

The Emotional Hijack and Interpersonal Communication

An emotional hijack can significantly interfere with interpersonal communication by causing individuals to react impulsively and irrationally in a heightened emotional state. When someone experiences an emotional hijack, their amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions, overrides the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for rational thinking and decision-making.

During an emotional hijack, individuals may struggle to regulate their emotions effectively, leading to outbursts of anger, defensiveness, or withdrawal. This can create barriers to effective communication as it impedes the ability to listen actively, empathize with others’ perspectives, and respond thoughtfully.

Furthermore, when emotions are running high due to an emotional hijack, individuals may misinterpret verbal and nonverbal cues from others or communicate in a way that is hurtful or damaging to relationships. This can lead to misunderstandings, conflict escalation, and breakdowns in communication.

Overall, an emotional hijack can impair interpersonal communication by disrupting one’s ability to engage in meaningful dialogues with others calmly and constructively. It is essential for individuals to recognize when they are experiencing intense emotions and take steps to manage them effectively before engaging in interpersonal interactions.

Hijacking a Necessary Survival Mechanism

The process has evolutionary purposes. Some threats demand immediate reactions, requiring drastic defenses before our logical brain has time to compute. We can jump out of the way of the speeding truck without calculating all the consequences. Our long range goals momentarily lose their priority in the instant of extreme threats. Peter Levine explains that when you perceive a threat, your “nervous system and body prepare you to kill or to take evasive countermeasures to escape, usually by running away” (Levine, 2012).

Emotional hijacking, a term coined by psychologist Daniel Goleman, refers to an immediate and overwhelming emotional response that is out of proportion to the stimulus because it has triggered a more significant emotional threat. This phenomenon is closely related to the fight, flight, or freeze response, which are instinctive reactions that humans and animals experience in response to perceived threats.

Fight, Flight, and Freeze

• Fight: When faced with a threat, the brain may choose to confront it. This can manifest as a physical or verbal altercation, often accompanied by intense anger. It’s a defensive mechanism aimed at defeating the danger.
• Flight: If the brain assesses that fighting off the danger isn’t the best option, it may trigger a flight response. This involves attempting to escape the threat as quickly as possible, prioritizing safety through distance.
• Freeze: Sometimes, neither fighting nor fleeing is viable. In such cases, the freeze response takes over. The individual becomes immobilized, unable to act or react, as a form of protection when other responses are not possible.

---

During an emotional hijack, the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for emotional processing—overtakes the prefrontal cortex, which is in charge of logical thinking and decision-making. This neural takeover can lead to the fight, flight, or freeze response, derailing our ability to think clearly and respond rationally. Essentially, the amygdala hijacks the rational brain, leading to impulsive reactions to perceived threats.

Understanding emotional hijacking and its connection to these primal responses can help individuals recognize when they’re experiencing an emotional overreaction. Recognizing the signs can be the first step in managing these responses in a healthy and appropriate way

Problematic Emotional Hijacking

Life and learning sometimes interfere. We adopt emergency reactions to events that present little or no immediate threat. In these cases, our emotional reaction may needlessly interfere with values and long term goals, like when we yell at a lover, or lash out at a supervisor.

Our amygdala is poked into action, hijacks our better judgment, and we create a mess in need of repair.

Two Events Occur During Emotional Hijacking

Two internal events occur, creating the neural hijacking:

• Triggering of the Amygdala
• Shutting Down of Neocortical Processes that usually mediate emotional responses

---

Emotional hijacking (The fight-or-flight response) is governed by the sympathetic nervous system, which activates when our brain perceives a threat. When faced with danger, such as encountering a predator or experiencing extreme stress, our body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones trigger various changes in the body to prepare us for action.

Gabor Maté explains, “The stress response is non-specific. It may be triggered in reaction to any attack—physical, biological, chemical or psychological—or in response to any perception of attack or threat, conscious or unconscious. The essence of threat is a destabilization of the body’s homeostasis, the relatively narrow range of physiological conditions within which the organism can survive and function”

Maté continues “To facilitate fight or escape, blood needs to be diverted from the internal organs to the muscles, and the heart needs to pump faster. The brain needs to focus on the threat, forgetting about hunger or sexual drive. Stored energy supplies need to be mobilized, in the form of sugar molecules. The immune cells must be activated. Adrenaline, cortisol and the other stress substances fulfill those tasks” (Maté, 2008).

Overwhelming Our Normal Ability to Process

Daniel Siegel suggests that for the hijacking to occur the stimuli must create a sufficiently aroused state that moves us beyond our window of tolerance. Siegel explains that when this occurs “a flood of energy may bombard the mind and take over a number of processes, ranging from rational thinking to social behavior” (Siegel, 2020). By improving our skills to tolerate frustration and regulate emotion, we expand our window of tolerance, providing a protection from hair trigger explosions into emotionally hijacked states with little provocation.

Accumulating Stress

Hijacking is not always the result of a single event. We deplete regulating energy from multiple sources. Our regulating capacity tires and our window of tolerance shrinks. In these cases, we easily are hijacked and emotions may have greater intensity. “When the body is already in a state of edginess,…, and something triggers an emotional hijacking, the subsequent emotion, whether anger or anxiety, is of especially great intensity” (Goleman, 2005).

Preventing Unnecessary Emotional Hijacking

We may never completely tame our emotional system, nor should we want to. The lost benefits of emotional sensitivity to our environment should outweigh the occasional damage of an overactive system. Emotional detachment removes us from the bountiful somatic intelligence stored within our bodies.

There are biological and physical ailments that prevent our ability to draw upon emotion. People suffering from alexithymia or autism struggle to relate to others. Other times, significant early trauma may create a defensive detachment from the wisdom of emotion. Usually, managing emotional arousal is less of a problem than navigating life without the guidance of emotion.

We can mediate unnecessary and inappropriate emotional reactions, preventing incidences of emotional hijacking that significantly damage our futures.

Here are a few ways we can regulate and limit hijacking:

Mindful Observance

Mindfully observing ourselves can provide essential information for growth. Reflection is a powerful tool.  We can identify environmental triggers and our contributing actions leading up to a hijacking. By using this knowledge, we can devise plans for better reactions. Accordingly, we may detect rising emotion before an all-out hijacking, giving us opportunity to intervene, soothe our system, and implement a wiser course of action.​

Redirecting Attention

​When safe to do so, we can direct attention away from the object arousing our system. This can be done mentally or through physically removing ourselves from a situation. We like to solve problems. Problem solving is an honorable goal. However, we must accept emotional limitations, heeding inner messages of an impending hijack.

​​Create Safer Environments

No matter what kind of personal work we engage in, if our environment is fraught with stress, we will weaken our ability to cope with challenges. We must rid ourselves of toxic environments whenever possible. Resilience relies on emotionally safe places to rejuvenate, building strength to navigate the unavoidable challenges that inevitably will occur.

​​Change Perspectives

​How we perceive the world is how we emotionally experience the world. If we interpret mundane and ordinary occurrences as dangerous, they threaten and activate reactionary responses just as if they were really threatening.

​In relationships, often couples tire of each other and their interpretations of the other changes. John Gottman refers to this new interpretation style as negative sentiment override. We arouse emotions through interpretation of experience, and these interpretation can send of twirling into another emotional hijacking, pulling us into another emotional black hole where we have no control, saying and doing things that destroy an already ailing relationship.

See Gottman Method Couple Therapy for more on this topic

​​Naming Emotions

​Another excellent technique for soothing emotional experience is identifying feeling and giving it a label. The idea behind naming emotions is that by labeling the feeling with words gives us a handle on the experience. As we practice naming emotions, we should expand our emotional vocabulary so we can describe feeling states more granularly. Generally, the more our thinking brain can understand the emotion, the greater the ability for it to help regulate. This practice is known as emotional differentiation.

Associated Concepts

• Limbic System Functioning: The limbic system, particularly the amygdala, is central to emotional hijacking. It processes emotional stimuli and is involved in learning and memory related to emotions.
• Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman’s concept of emotional intelligence includes the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Emotional hijacking can be seen as a lapse in emotional intelligence, where emotions overpower reasoning.
• General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Developed by Hans Selye, this theory describes the body’s short-term and long-term reactions to stress. GAS outlines three stages: alarm (similar to fight-or-flight), resistance, and exhaustion.
• Fight or Flight Response: This response explains how the body responds to stressors, which can lead to an emotional hijack. The fight-or-flight response is a primary example of the body’s physiological reaction to stress.
• Cognitive Appraisal Theory: This theory suggests that the way people interpret and think about an event affects how they respond emotionally. An emotional hijack may occur when an event is appraised as extremely threatening or overwhelming.
• Neuroeconomics: This field studies the brain’s role in decision-making, including how emotions can influence our economic choices. Emotional hijacking can affect decision-making processes, leading to impulsive reactions.
• Attachment Theory: It posits that early relationships with caregivers shape our emotional regulation systems. Insecure attachments may predispose individuals to more frequent or intense emotional hijacks.

A Few Word by Psychology Fanatic

In conclusion, emotional hijacking represents a powerful intersection between our evolved survival instincts and the complexities of modern human emotions. It serves as a reminder that beneath our sophisticated veneer of rationality, we are still at the mercy of primal forces that can, in moments of stress or threat, usurp control.

By understanding the triggers and mechanisms of emotional hijacking, we can better prepare ourselves to navigate these intense emotional waters and regain the helm of our cognitive ship. As we continue to explore the depths of the human psyche, let us not forget the importance of emotional intelligence and the role it plays in our ability to lead balanced, harmonious lives.

Last Update: January 21, 2026

References:

Goleman, Daniel (2005). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books. ISBN-10: 055338371X
(Return to Main Text)

Levine, Peter A. (2012). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. North Atlantic Books; 1st edition. ISBN: 9781556439438
(Return to Main Text)

Maté, Gabor (2008). When the Body Says No. ‎Trade Paper Press; 1st edition. ISBN-10: 0470349476
(Return to Main Text)

Murphy, T. Franklin (2014) Emotional Overload: Understanding Its Impact. Psychology Fanatic. Published: 8-1-2014; Accessed: 5-11-2022. Website: https://psychologyfanatic.com/emotional-overload/
(Return to Main Text)

Siegel, Daniel J. (2020). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. The Guilford Press; 3rd edition. ISBN-10: 1462542751; APA Record: 2012-12726-000
(Return to Main Text)

Related Articles