Magnitude
Then there is the very important matter of magnitude. Is this a big ferocious lion or a kitty kat that is snarling at us? As one of the three semantic differential categories that may be triggering our amygdala and sympathetic system, the strength of a threatening (negative) anticipation is critical. A small, menacing cat is likely to produce Fight or Flight (we can kick the cat or simply move away from the cat). A large, menacing lion is more likely to produce Freeze, since we aren’t going to be able to do much about attacking or escaping the lion.
In the world of “real” lions, we are likely to fight against a small change in personnel policy or simply ignore (escape) a silly regulation about parking permits at work. On the other hand, a major change in governmental priorities that cancels our job in human services is likely to leave us frozen with a sense of Rage, coupled with feelings of being Helpless to do much about this injustice and unwise shift in priorities. In the latter case, our entire psychosocial template is likely to come crashing down. We don’t know who to trust or what to do in what has become an alien world.
The strength (size) of a positive anticipation also impacts the amount of dopamine being injected into our bloodstream: do we imagine a small jackpot or a bonanza? Are we going to get a new, challenging job assignment or a major promotion at work? Either of these could shift us to our sympathetic system; however, the major promotion might produce a bigger “high” for us. With the major promotion, there also might be a shift in our psychosocial template, though this shift is likely to be gradual as we slowly embrace an altered perspective on our organization and our role and responsibility in this organization.
Duration
Temporally based anticipations also influence our bodily state, our baseline, and our subsequent actions (if any). If we anticipate that the positive or negative event or setting is very short-term, then we are likely to make no adjustments. This is just a “blip” on our psychosocial “radar.” We can pretty much ignore this “flickering” of a potentially pleasant or disturbing outcome—unless we are particularly “trigger happy” having repeatedly experienced small events or settings like this or no believe that this event or setting portends something bigger in the near future. For instance, a small “slight” (such as a raised eyebrow or quiet “grunt”) might set up off in our relationship with someone we have come to distrust over time. Similarly, we might find that the offering of minor praise by our supervisor might trigger a dopamine high because we think this “could be the start of something big!”
What if we anticipate an event that we expect to be extended over time or a setting in which we are likely to dwell for a “lifetime” (or at least a few months). Long-duration anticipations will inevitably require a major shift in our polystatic baseline or even our psychosocial template. The challenge is one of sustaining attention to this event or setting over the long term. As human beings, we are skilled in “adapting” to changing conditions and soon begin taking them for granted. For instance, numerous studies have shown that people who have won a large lottery will end up returning to the socio-economic level (or at least lifestyle) to which they had long been accustomed.
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