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(CITATION Sar11 /L 1033) : 1. James - Lange Theory

Emotions play a vital role in everyday life and are influenced by thoughts, behavior, and physiology. There are several theories that help explain emotions, including the James-Lange theory which posits that emotions arise from physiological reactions to events, and the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory which states that physiological arousal combined with environmental context leads to an attributed emotion. The amygdala plays a key role in processing emotions and integrating external stimuli with physiological responses.

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68 views

(CITATION Sar11 /L 1033) : 1. James - Lange Theory

Emotions play a vital role in everyday life and are influenced by thoughts, behavior, and physiology. There are several theories that help explain emotions, including the James-Lange theory which posits that emotions arise from physiological reactions to events, and the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory which states that physiological arousal combined with environmental context leads to an attributed emotion. The amygdala plays a key role in processing emotions and integrating external stimuli with physiological responses.

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 Emotions play a vital role in everyday livelihood.

Every individual is affected or


influenced by emotions on a daily basis.
 By definition, emotion is a subjective feeling that affects and is affected by our thoughts,
behavior, and physiology.
 Some emotions are positive or pleasant, such as joy and affection, and others are
negative, such as anger, fear, and sadness [ CITATION Sar11 \l 1033 ].
 Stangor (2011) notes that emotions are brief but often intense and are caused by specific
events (for instance, jealous or angry), and they are accompanied by high levels of
arousal.
 Emotion can also be defined in the context of reactions:
 An emotion is a complex psychological event that involves a mixture of reactions:
(1) a physiological response (usually arousal), (2) an expressive reaction
(distinctive facial expression, body posture, or vocalization), and (3) some kind of
subjective experience (internal thoughts and feelings) [ CITATION Nai00 \l 1033 ]
 Emotions reflect the intense arousal of brain systems that strongly encourage the
organism to act impulsively.
 There are Theories that help understand the concept of emotions, which are: James –
Lange theory, Cannon – Bard theory, Schachter – Singer theory, Opponent – process
theory, Lazarus’ cognitive theory, Arousal theory and several other social theories of
emotion.

1. James – Lange Theory


 Proposed by William James and Carl Lange
 Emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events
 An external stimulus leads to a physiological reaction.
 James argued that bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and
that our feeling of the same changes as the facts occur
 For example: “you feel afraid because you tremble” its not the other way round.
 Environmental influence (event)  Physiological change  Psychological experience
2. Cannon – Bard Theory
 A physiological explanation of emotion developed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard
 We feel the emotions and experience the physiological reactions such as sweating,
trembling and muscle tension simultenously
 We react to a stimulus and experience the associated emotion at the same time.
 Emotions and physiological responses occur at exactly the same time.

3. Schachter – Singer’s Two Factor theory


 Looks specifically at how we decide what emotions we are experiencing when we are
experiencing one
 Physiological arousal + Environment circumstances = Attributed emotions
 Im tense and sweating + a gun is being pointed at me = im afraid
 Focuses on the interaction between physical arousal and how we cognitively label that
arousal.

4. Opponent – Process theory


 The theory has two central assumptions:
 Emotional reactions to a stimulus are followed automatically by an opposite
reaction
 Repeated exposure to a stimulus causes the initial reaction to weaken and the
opposite reaction to strengthen
 We have pairs of emotions that act in opposing pairs such as happiness and sadiness, fear
and relief. When one of these is experienced, the other is temporarily suppressed. This
opposite emotion is however likely to reemerge strongly and may curtail and interact
with the initial emotion.

5. Lazurus’ Cognitive Theory


 Lazarus suggests that some degree of cognitive processing is essential before an
emotional reaction, either overt or internal, can occur.
 Lazarus et al. (1980) suggested that emotion is a cognitive function, arising as result of
appraisal of a situation. A situation may be appraised as non – threatenin leading to a
positive emotional states.
 A stimulus appraised as threatening leads to direct action such as attack, retreat or
freezing, together with physiological responses such as these which accompany negative
states, including fear, anger, or depression.
 If direct action is impossible, coping strategies may be employed to reappraise the
situation benignly in order to live with the threat.

6. Arousal Theory
 Arousal is a non- specific physiological response, heightening a person’s awareness
 Mandler (1982) suggested that the interruption of ongoing thought process or behaviour
sequences is sufficient to activate the Autonomic Nervous System
 This creates a state of general physiological arousal which is then given an emotional
label, based on the cognitive interpretation of the stimulus.

Emotions and the Brain

 Emotions are dependant on the functional integrity of a set of neural systems, with the
limbic system (which is made up of the hypothalamus, the thalamus, the hippocampus
and the amygdala) being the most prominent key structures.
 The amygdala is a complex nuclear mass that can be subdivided into a number of nuclei
and nuclear complexes
 It intergrates information about external stimuli conveyed by sensory cortices with
somatic, visceral, and endocrine processes
 In a threatening situation the amygdala becomes active leading to fear and a state of
enhanced alertness that prepares an organism for flight or fight in the service of self
preservation.
 The amygdala is also involved in the perceptual analysis of emotionally salient stimuli
such as facial expressions; and projections from the amygdala to the occipital cortex may
serve to enhance the detailed visual processing of such a stimuli [ CITATION Dau \l 1033 ].

 Damage to the limbic system results in symptoms such as abnormalities of emotions for
example crying or laughing inappropriately, anxiety and depression.
 In the 1930s, Kluver and Bucy discovered that removal of the temoral lobes (including
the amygdala and parts of the hippocampus) had a dramatic effect of emotional responses
in monkeys. They seemed to see but not to recognise the emotional meaning of things
[ CITATION Gro96 \l 1033 ]
References
Daum, I., Markowitsch, H., & Vandekerckhove, M. (2009). Neurobiological Basis of Emotions.

Gross, R. (1996). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour. New Jersey: Wiley Inc.

Nairne, J. (2000). Psychology: The Adaptive Mind 2nd Ed. Wadsworth.

Sarafino, P. E., & Smith, W. T. (2011). Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions 7th
Edition. Uttah: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Stangor, C. (2011). Principles of Social Psychology. Columbia.

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