What are Emotions in Psychology 2?

Theories of Emotion:- 

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James- Lange theory of emotion:-    William James and Carl Lange together share a common view of emotion. These two physiologists say that emotions arise from physiological arousal. ‘bodily changes directly follow the perception of an emotional situation and our awareness of the bodily changes give the experience of emotion’.

According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, we would only experience a feeling of fear after this physiological arousal had taken place.

 

So, this theory was developed by American psychologist William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange in the mid-1880s. According to them, our physiological ( bodily) reaction occurs first, followed by an emotional reaction. Both believed that when an event occurs, our body reacts, and then we feel emotion after the brain interprets that physiological changes. Rather than being the cause of physiological events, such as muscular tension, increase heart rate, perspiration, dry mouth, and running, created by ANS ( autonomic nervous system).

 

For example- an emotion-evoking stimulus (snake) triggers a pattern of physiological response (increase heart rate, faster breathing, etc) which is interpreted as a particular emotion (fear).

 

STIMULI -> PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES -> EMOTION

 

The James- Lange theory of emotion suggests that emotions are a result of physiological responses large and not their cause.

When stimuli that can induce emotions are received and comprehended by the cortex of the brain the visceral organs and the skeletal muscles are triggered by the A.N.S. (autonomic nervous system) and  S.N.S.(somatic nervous system). The autonomic and somatic systems will then stimulate the brain, which will be interpreted as an experience of emotion.

Example:- when someone sees an angry bull.

 

Common sense view;  perception of angry bull > feeling of fear > physiological reactions.

James-Lange view;  perception of angry bull >physiological reactions > feeling of fear.

After seeing a stimulus, receptors get activated and an afferent nerve impulse is generated which is conveyed to the cerebral cortex through afferent fibers. This gives the perception of the emotional situation and efferent impulses are conveyed to visceral organs, muscles, and glands resulting in activation of these organs. Again afferent impulses about activation of responding organizers are conveyed to the cerebral cortex and thus the organism has the experience of the emotion.

So,

PRESENCE OF STIMULI > PERCEPTION OF STIMULI > EMOTIONAL ACTIVITY > CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE OF EMOTION.

Thus, the theory assumed that the conscious experience of emotion is preceded by Emotional behavior.

 

Criticism:- 

This theory suffers from certain serious pitfalls which are:-

William Wundt based on his studies on conscious experience refuses the contention of James-Lange. Wundt cites certain instances in which he found that in Experimental situations if the experience of emotion is withheld temporarily, Emotional behavior too ceases. Thus, awareness of Emotional behavior cannot be assumed to be the basis for Emotional experience.

Most often, sometimes we experience an emotion even without displaying Emotional behavior.

The major objection to the theory came from canon. He pointed out that;-

(a) Physiological changes of one Emotional state do not differ from another Emotional state, that would be essential to discriminate one emotion from another based only on our bodily reactions.

(b) Internal organs are relatively intensitive structures and also slow in action in comparison to conscious experience. Hence, bodily changes cannot be thought of as a source of Emotional experience.

(c) When a person is artificially induced to bodily changes (by injecting adrenalin) it doesn’t produce an experience of true emotions.

 

They assume a kind of reflex action between the perception of an emotional situation and accompanying emotional behavior. But Worcester argues this is not always true that when we see a tiger in the jungle we run away, but if we see a tiger in a zoo, we tend to approach. We don’t experience Emotional fear.

 

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion:-  The cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion, also known as the “Thalamic theory of emotion”.

 Walter Bradford cannon a physiologist at Harvard University and his graduate student Phillip Bard developed a theory in late 1920 which was named as cannon-Bard theory. They emphasized the role of the brain in producing physiological responses and feelings through his experiments. In his experiments, cannon discovered that it was still possible to experience emotion even if the brain was excised from the signals of bodily responses. It was not reliable to depend on bodily responses to know the type of emotions, a person experiences as different emotions may be formed by the same bodily responses.

For example:- if a person with a racing heart could either mean that the person is angry or excited. They conclude that the experience of emotion doesn’t depend on bodily inputs and how the body responding to stimuli. Both of these the experience of an emotion and experience physiological arousal, work at the same time. People recognize the emotions and simultaneously undergo physiological responses such as perspiring, trembling, and tension of muscles.

 

Experience of emotions involves two separate processes in the nervous system – ANS as being responsible for the arousal and the  Cortex as being responsible for the production of the subjective sensation of the emotion.  

In this theory, emotions result when the thalamus sends a  message to the brain in response to stimuli, resulting in a physiological change and reaction.

According to this theory, the lower brain area ( thalamus, hypothalamus) plays a central role in emotion. Emotional stimuli are received by the receptor organs, then sensory impulses send to the Cortex, it passes through lower brain areas, signals are associated and organized, then the upper level of the brain similarly cerebral cortex discharged neurons through effector impulses also must pass through the thalamus and determine the emotions that we express.

For example:- I see a snake.., I’m afraid and I begin to tremble.

 TO READ FIRST OF PART WHAT ARE EMOTIONS

Criticism:-

Some issues raised also in this theory, are:-

This theory lays too much emphasis on the hypothalamus whereas the fact is that involvement of some other parts of the nervous system has also been found. This has been substantiated by experimental studies in which the hypothalamus was artificially stimulated by exposing the subjects to some Emotional situations and their Emotional reactions were compared to the control group of such subjects who were exposed to Emotional situations naturally. Some of the noted differences were “ artificially aroused Emotional behaviors were relatively short-lived, more stereotyped, less adaptive, more restricted and fewer situations orientated.

In a natural Emotional state and the hypothalamus, other parts of the nervous system also get involved. Therefore, the researchers such as Lashley, Lindsley, Arnold, etc opine that the Experimental studies do not lend much support to assume the hypothalamus as the seat of emotion.

· The researchers further noted that the hypothalamus is also incapable of maintaining the tension arising out of emotion for some longer duration.

Thus, this theory is also not able to explain the entire fact of emotion and therefore, cannot be regarded as a preferable theory of emotion.

Schachter- singer Theory of emotion:-  This theory maintains that the emotion we feel is due to our interpretation of an aroused, or “stirred up,” bodily state.

Schachter and Singer (1962) argued that the bodily state of emotional arousal is much the same for most of the emotions we feel and that even if there are physiological differences in the body’s patterns of responses,  People cannot perceive them. Since the bodily changes are ambiguous, the theory says that any emotions can be felt from a stirred-up bodily condition.

In other words, given a state of arousal, we experience the emotion that seems appropriate to the situation in which we find ourselves.

The sequence of events in the production of emotional feeling, According to this theory, is:-

 (1) perception of a potential emotion-producing situation,

 (2) an aroused bodily state which results from this perception and which is ambiguous, and

 (3) interpretation and labeling of the bodily state so that it fits the perceived situation

· It is also known as the Two-factor theory and cognitive labeling theory of  emotion

· We experience the emotion that seems appropriate to the situation in which we find ourselves.

· When the physiological arousal occurs, the individual must identify the reason for this arousal to experience and label it as emotion.

According to two-factors theory, EMOTION is the result of the interaction between two factors:- physiological arousal and cognition.

Physiological arousal is cognitively interpreted within the context of each situation,(how a person labels and understands what they are experiencing- based on a person’s experience) which ultimately produces the Emotional experiences.

For example:- if we see a snake (stimulus) it would elicit sympathetic nervous system activation (physiological arousal) that would be cognitively labeled as fear (cognition) based on the experience would be the feeling of fear.

Like James-Lange’s theory, Schachter’s and singer’s Theory also interprets emotions based on physiological reactions.

And Schachter-singer’s theory also followed cannon-bard theory and suggests that similar physiological responses can produce varying emotions.

For example:- heart rate becomes faster when we are trembling and also when we are fighting with someone.

Lazarus cognitive appraisal theory:- ( 1970,1984)  according to Richard Lazarus, thinking must occur first before experiencing emotion.

The emotion we feel results from appraisals or evaluations, of information coming from the environmental situation and from within the body. And memories of past Encounters with similar situations, dispositions to respond in certain ways.

Appraisal involves:- cognition, processing of information from the environment, the body, and memory.

According to this theory, the sequence of events first involves a stimulus, followed by the thought, which then leads to the simultaneous experience of emotion and physiological responses.

EVENTS > APPRAISAL > EMOTION > PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

For example:- if we encounter a tiger in the jungle, we immediately think that we are in danger, which leads to an emotional experience of fear and the physical reaction.

Lazarus also distinguished between primary and secondary appraisal:-

Primary appraisal:- meaning of the event,

Secondary appraisal:- assess the ability to cope up with the consequences of the event.

The all-over process of primary and secondary appraisal is unique and different to each person.