“Fight or Flight”

The resolution of a conflict requires people to be thinking clearly about what their options are. When a conflict kicks off the “fight or flight” response, people tend to experience what is known as “emotional flooding,” where their emotional response, or “primitive brain” takes over and their choices appear to be incredibly narrow.

Clear thinking allows people to think strategically, to read verbal and non-verbal cues more accurately and to express themselves effectively.

People in conflict must be able to move past the retaliation motive to focus on what is in their own self-interest. Emotional flooding and the “fight or flight” response get in the way of all of this.