Another concept spoken about in Daniel Goleman’s “Social Intelligence” is that of the “upside-down U”, which is a graph showing levels of performance at differing amounts of stress. This graph goes from the lowest level of stress, which is labeled as “boredom”, to the highest level of stress, which is labeled as “anxiety”, and shows performance levels along the way. The peak of performance is found midway between the points of boredom and anxiety, where optimal cognitive efficiency is shown.
Explanation
He explains the causes of the graph by discussing how our body responds at different points on it. The inverted-U concept comes from a study on effects of levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is released in response to stress or anxiety, and the study finds that a median level of cortisol is most beneficial for emotional memory creation. Learning and performance increase up to a certain amount of cortisol released, and then the high level of stress causes norepinephrine to start being released. Norepinephrine is associated with being released when in fear, and more of this hormone is released in conjunction with cortisol release at higher levels of stress, and this leads to reduced cognitive performance.
When In High-stress
One point to take from this information is that there is no added benefit to your efficiency to work in a perceived high-stress scenario. If you find yourself in a state of high stress, it is not useful to ignore it and continue, or even increase, your efforts. The high stress situation reduces your performance to substandard levels, and it would benefit you to change variables to reduce the stress, in order to actually accomplish more. Norepinephrine is released because fear is actually what you start to feel when stress gets too high, since you are starting to feel that you are on the edge of, or already, losing control of your situation, and become fearful of the consequences. Even looked at from an employer’s perspective, it could make sense to reduce your load, as you might then rise back up to a higher state of efficiency.
When In Low-stress
On the lower end of the inverted-U, which is not as common of a level of stress to be at, boredom goes hand-in-hand with a lack of release of the hormones discussed, which are appropriate in moderation, and is also a state of inefficiency. Although boredom is not as common in a fast-paced society, there are times when you or someone you know may point out that they are bored, and this would be the time to provide them with mental stimulation. Their brains are looking for material to digest, and you could help them(or yourself) by providing new content or problems for them to undertake. As the United Negro College Fund Slogan says, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
Closing Note
An argument for remaining at this optimal position of mental efficiency is that time is already going by, so there is no reason to not be processing the tasks in your environment around or at your naturally optimal level of efficiency.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, for a second there, I thought I had ended up at “Highly Evolved”.
I love this stuff. I enjoy reading about how the brain works, and how to capitalize on that. Plus, the way you put it makes it very simple and easy to understand. Good job!
Trey: I sure did think about Patrick and Very Evolved when I was writing this. Writing this type of article was one of my original article ideas for the site. I am glad about your feedback, and making use of the brain in ways that match its efficient pathways is something I am a proponent of.