theories of emotions in psychology

A Return to the example of being asked to lecture by your professor. What causes us to have these feelings?

The James-Lange theory proposes that you will conclude that you are frightened ("I am trembling. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling, and muscle tension simultaneously. First, he suggested, people can experience physiological reactions linked to emotions without actually feeling those emotions.

Mauss and her colleagues found that strategies could reduce negative emotions, which in turn should increase psychological health (Mauss, Cook, Cheng, & Gross, 2007; Mauss, Cook, & Gross, 2007; Shallcross, Troy, Boland, & Mauss, 2010; Troy, Shallcross, & Mauss, 2013; Troy, Wilhelm, Shallcross, & Mauss, 2010). However, another way of considering emotions challenges our entire understanding of emotions.After about three decades of interdisciplinary research, Barrett argued that we do not understand emotions. Two identical physiological states can result in different emotional states depending on your predictions. Supporters of this theory suggest that emotions are directly tied to changes in facial muscles. They researched how 218 undergraduate students reported their use of covert and overt strategies and their reported symptoms associated with selected mental disorders, and found that overt emotional regulation strategies were better predictors of psychopathology than covert strategies. If you experience the same physical responses on a date, you might interpret those responses as love, affection, or arousal. Neurological theories propose that activity within the brain leads to affective responses. This section closes with a discussion of the ubiquitous nature of facial expressions of emotion and our abilities to recognize those expressions in others.Schachter and Singer believed that physiological arousal is very similar across the different types of emotions that we experience, and therefore, the cognitive appraisal of the situation is critical to the actual emotion experienced. Physiological theories suggest that responses within the body are responsible for feelings. AER works like riding a bicycle. By using Verywell Mind, you accept our This section will outline some of the most well-known theories explaining our emotional experience and provide insight into the biological bases of emotion. Another study examined the relationship between pregaming (the act of drinking heavily before a social event) and two emotion regulation strategies to understand how these might contribute to alcohol-related problems; results suggested a relationship but a complicated one (Pederson, 2016). AER can influence the things you attend to, your appraisal, your choice to engage in an emotional experience, and your behaviors after an emotion is experienced (Mauss, Bunge, & Gross, 2007; Mauss, Levenson, McCarter, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2005).

Feelings of fear compel people to either fight or flee the source of danger. He also believed in what we might casually refer to as a gut feeling—that we can experience an instantaneous and unexplainable like or dislike for someone or something (Zajonc, 1980). A fear stimulus is processed by the brain through one of two paths: from the thalamus (where it is perceived) directly to the amygdala or from the thalamus through the cortex and then to the amygdala.

Typically, the word emotion indicates a subjective, affective state that is relatively intense and that occurs in response to something we experience (Figure 10.20).

You begin to tremble, and your heart begins to race. The James-Lange theory is one of the best-known examples of a physiological theory of emotion. According to this theory, the sequence of events first involves a stimulus, followed by thought, which then leads to the simultaneous experience of a physiological response and the emotion.

Emotions are often thought to be consciously experienced and intentional. Another well-known physiological theory is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion.

In chapter 7 you learned that concepts are categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories, such as life experiences. Covert emotion regulation strategies are those that occur within the individual, while overt strategies involve others or actions (such as seeking advice or consuming alcohol). According to appraisal theories of emotion, thinking must occur first before experiencing emotion.