Theories of Emotion

Emotion

a conscious feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness accompanied by biological activation and expressive behavior; has cognitive, physiological and behavioral components

Paul Ekman

found at least 6 basic facial expressions that are universally recognized by people in diverse cultures around the world - although differ in regulating emotional expression

James-Lange Theory

external stimuli activate our autonomic nervous systems, producing specific patterns of physiological changes for different emotions that evoke specific emotional experiences; ex. when we see a vicious looking dog growl, our sympathetic nervous system kicks in, we being to run immediately and THEN we become aware that we are afraid; we can change our feelings by changing our behavior

Facial-Feedback Hypothesis

our facial expressions affect our emotional experiences (in-class pencil activity); smiling seems to induce positive moods, frowning seems to induce negative moods

Cannon-Bard Theory

conscious experience of emotion accompanies physiological responses; thalamus simultaneously sends info to both limbic system (emotional center) and frontal lobes (cognitive center) about an event; when we see vicious dog, our bodily arousal and our recognition of the fear we feel happen at the same time

Opponent-Process Theory

when we experience an emotion, an opposing emotion will counter the first emotion, lessening the experience of that emotion; if we are about to jump out of an airplane for the first time, we tend to feel extreme fear along with low levels of elation but every time after the first that you jump out of a plane, you experience less fear and more elation; ROLLER COASTER EMOTIONS

Cognitive Theories of Emotion

emotional experiences depend on our interpretation of situations

Schachter-Singer Theory

we infer emotion from arousal and then label it according to our cognitive explanation for the arousal; ex. if we feel aroused and someone is yelling at us, we must be angry

Lazarus's Cognitive-Appraisal Theory

our emotional experience depends on our interpretation of the situation we are in; we can change our emotions if we learn to interpret the situation differently