The rational part of the brain uses only 10% of it, while the emotional part uses the remaining 90%, this makes education of emotions essential.
During the nineties of the last century, the neuroscientist Joseph Le Doux demonstrated the dominance that the emotional brain exerts over the rational brain in certain situations.
According to the neurologist Antonio Damasio, when the brain makes decisions it does so in order to regulate an emotional balance that affects the entire organism. Therefore, it will be essential to educate the emotional brain so that it learns to control its instincts and emotions using its intelligence.
The emotional part of the brain
Scientists place emotion control in the limbic system, which is why they call this structure "the emotional part of the brain." This system is made up of three fundamental elements with specific functions:
- the thalamus: that sends sensory messages to the cerebral neocortex (the neocortex is considered the thinking part of the brain);
- the hippocampus: which is believed to play a very important role in the memory and interpretation of what we perceive; and
- the amygdala, which is the center of emotional control.
The limbic system as a whole is present in both cerebral hemispheres and regulates the emotions and impulses that we experience.
The emotional zero
Eduardo Punset uses this concept to define the point at which neural circuits have been formed that will determine how any boy or girl will cope with situations from an emotional point of view throughout their lives. In this way, the circuit remains closed and although the expression and control of emotions can be learned a posteriori, it will always have to start from the neural base that is formed until the age of two.
The key to promoting emotional development in the child will be in the intersubjectivity relationships established between the child and the people with whom he or she is related.
Stern understands intersubjectivity, on the one hand, as the ability to recognize another person as a separate center of subjective experience with which you can share your own subjective states (from the age of two) and, on the other hand, as a specific form of relationship generated between the child and his mother (from birth to two years).
Specifically, in the sensorimotor period there is a specific type of instersubjectivity, the primary intersubjectivity, which refers to the ability to share the affective states that arise within the dyad attachment-baby figure. The development of the emotional brain will depend on the quality of these intersubjective relationships.
The power of the emotional brain
Authors like Goleman and Larry Dorsy have found that the emotional centers of the brain are connected to the immune system that fights germs and cancer, as well as the cardiovascular system.
All emotions are impulses to act, and each emotion prepares the body to act specifically. Here are some examples of the relationship between emotions and physiological responses:
1. Anger: blood flows mainly to the hands and the heart beats faster, accompanied by an increase in blood adrenaline.
2. Fear: the blood is concentrated in the muscles, especially in those of the legs to facilitate the flight.
3. Happiness: Brain activity is centered in the central part, negative feelings are inhibited and an increase in energy levels is experienced.
4. Love: relaxation occurs in the body and a general state of calm.
5. Surprise: the retina allows more light to enter to more easily detect changes in the environment.
6. Disgust: there is an inhibition of evacuation, insomnia and risk of hypertension.
7. Sadness: there is a decrease in the levels of endorphins necessary to strengthen the immune system.
Knowing is the key
The emotional brain is common to animals and humans, however only the latter are capable of being educated to control their emotions. Thus, the person who has a developed emotional intelligence will be placed on a higher rung of evolution because he will enjoy better health and establish successful relationships with other people.
