Raising the "Reaction Threshold"

Video Transcription

Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution, Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to cover raising the reaction threshold. So let's get started off with our key terms.

Amygdala-- a structure in the brain which interprets stimuli as threat or non-threat and initiates fight-or-flight reaction. Flight-or-flight reaction-- a condition in the body caused by the release of adrenaline, preparing the body to flee from or combat a stimulus perceived as a threat by the amygdala. Response-- behavior towards a given stimulus or in a given context that is consciously chosen. Reaction-- behavior which is not consciously chosen, but is automatic or reflexive in a given context or in relation to a given stimulus.

Threat-- a stimulus interpreted by the amygdala as harmful to an organism. Confidence-- a belief that one can engage in a given situation successfully, for example, by meeting needs or preventing loss or harm. Reaction threshold-- for a given person or organism in a given situation, the level of potential threat necessary to trigger a fight-or-flight reaction.

So when we're in situations, or in a conflict, or a threat is present, perhaps, we want to be able to control our fight-or-flight reactions. And we do this through raising our reaction threshold. And so remember, our reaction threshold is the level of potential threat that is needed to trigger our fight-or-flight reaction.

And so we want to do this so we can assess our threat levels more effectively. So we want to be able to use our fight-or-flight reaction, which is important for us to have because it helps us to prepare our body when we are confronted with the threat. But we want to be able to use this reaction better when there is a more higher level of threat. And so in raising our reaction threshold, we are better at assessing our threat levels and only reacting to the higher or more risky situations.

And we do this through training our amygdala. And our amygdala, again, is that little part in our brain that lets us know that there is a threat or that, possibly, there isn't a threat. And it initiates or triggers our fight-or-flight reaction. And so we need to train this part of our brain to be conditioned to react or trigger that fight-or-flight reaction appropriately.

And we raise our reaction threshold through experiencing or going beyond our comfort zone. And let's say you're afraid of spiders. And you're the only one that lives in your apartment, so who's going to take care of the spiders? Only you. So after time, you've killed the spiders, flush them down the toilet, the less and less you are perceiving them to be a threat to you.

Or let's say you're an avid skier, but you've only gone on the slopes that are of medium level. And you decide to go on the black diamond levels. And you thought them to be threatening, and you didn't have a lot of confidence in your abilities. But once you made it through the black diamonds, your reaction threshold got raised a little bit. And the more and more you go through the harder levels, the more and more your reaction threshold is raised.

A really big example, for me at least, is skydiving. I haven't made it quite there yet, but I know plenty of people who have and are less threatened, actually, in general, because they have overcome this fear of jumping out of an airplane and possibly landing face first and dying in the middle of a field, or whatever the situation is. But they have gone beyond that high risk and therefore, have raised their reaction threshold, and can perceive the level of threat in a more comprehensive way.

And ways that we can raise our reaction threshold is through these little strategies that we come up with in our brain, these sort of mental rehearsals. So before we encounter a situation, we need to ask ourselves what will you do? What am I going to do? How am I going to react if a certain situation or threat comes at me? What will I say? So thinking of responses that are appropriate and really thinking about what you want to say and how you want to come across.

For me, I think, and most importantly, I want to ask, what won't you do? So having your absolute something that you're not going to do, something you're absolutely not going to say, and stick to it. And so you feel like you have control in the situation.

And when we go through these strategies, we are gaining confidence. And so we can raise our reaction threshold. And we, again, do these through our mental rehearsals, going through the strategies I just mentioned, playing it over in our minds. And this will also help us be better at going with the flow, so we can take the situations with grace, with confidence, with structure, with comprehension. We can go with the flow, we can take whatever is coming at us.

And again, practice makes perfect. So the more we practice this in our minds, yes, that's important. But the more we experience these things in real life, in real time, the better we are at in combating the situation, and going at it with confidence, and being cool, calm, and collected, and being able to assess threats appropriately.

So now we've gone over raising our reaction threshold. Let's go over our key points. In raising our reaction threshold, we feel less threatened in situations, and we are better able to assess threat more effectively. So we are able to look at threats and see which ones are lower levels versus the high, risky levels. And we are able to control our fight-or-flight response better. And when we have a plan of action, when we go through how we're going to respond in these situations in our minds, and through practicing in real time and experience, we are creating more confidence.

Thank you for taking the time out to do this tutorial. I hope you've gained something, and I hope you learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.