According to Morris and Maisto (2005) the ancient Greek rationalists thought emotions,

if not held in check, would wreck havoc on higher mental abilities such as rational thought and
decision making.
In the past, psychologists too viewed emotion as a base instinct-a vestige of our evolutionary
heritage that needed to be repressed.
More recently however, scientists have begun to see emotions in a more positive light.
Today they are thought of as essential to survival and a major source of personal enrichment.]

Definition of the concept

A complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence
thought and behavior.
A complex feeling/state involving conscious experience and internal and overt physical
responses that tend to facilitate or inhibit motivated behaviour.
Outward expression of inner feelings.
A motivated state marked by physiological arousal, expressive behaviour, and mental
experience.
For example –an angry man:
 His heart might pound(physiological arousal)
 Feel enraged(mental/cognitive experience)
 Grit his teeth(expressive behaviour)
Kosslyn and Rosenberg (2006) propose that emotions have four components:

 a positive or negative subjective experience

 bodily arousal
 the activation of specific mental processes and stored information, and
 characteristic behaviour
A feeling, or affect, that can involve physiological arousal (a fast heartbeat for example),
conscious experience (thinking about being in love with someone, for example), and
behavioural expression (a smile or grimace, for example).
Emotion is often associated and considered reciprocally influential with mood, temperament,
personality, disposition, and motivation. It also is influenced by hormones and neurotransmitters
such as dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, oxytocin and cortisol.

Components of emotions

Cognitive appraisal: provides an evaluation of events and objects

Bodily symptoms: the physiologica l component of emotional experience
Action tendencies: a motivationa l component for the preparation and direction of motor
responses.
Expression: facial and vocal expression almost always accompanies an emotional state
to communicate reaction and intention of actions
Feelings: the subjective experience of emotional state once it has occurred

Theories of emotion
Ancient Greece and Middle Ages Theories about emotions stretch back to at least as far as the
stoics of Ancient Greece and Ancient China.
 In the latter it was believed that excess emotion caused damage to qi, which in turn, damages
the vital organs.
The four humours theory made popular by Hippocrates contributed to the study of emotion in
the same way that it did for medicine
Western philosophy regarded emotion in varying ways. In stoic theories it was seen as a
hindrance to reason and therefore a hindrance to virtue.
Aristotle believed that emotions were an essential component to virtue.
 In the Aristotelian view all emotions (called passions) corresponded to an appetite or capacity.
 During the Middle Ages, the Aristotelian view was adopted and further developed by
scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas in particular.
There are also theories in the works of philosophers such as René Descartes, Niccolò
Machiavelli, Baruch Spinoza and David Hume.
 In the 19th century emotions were considered adaptive and were studied more frequently
from an empiricist psychiatric perspective.
Evolutionary theories
19th Century
Perspectives on emotions from evolutionary theory were initiated in the late 19th century
with Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
 Darwin argued that emotions actually served a purpose for humans, in communication
and also in aiding their survival.
 Darwin, therefore, argued that emotions evolved via natural selection and therefore have
universal cross-cultural counterparts.
Darwin also detailed the virtues of experiencing emotions and the parallel experiences
that occur in animals .
 This led the way for animal research on emotions and the eventual determination of the
neural underpinnings of emotion.

Contemporary theories

The major theories of motivation can be grouped into three main categories:
Physiological theories- suggest that responses within the body are responsible for
emotions.
Neurological theories- propose that activity within the brain leads to emotional
responses
Cognitive theories- these theories argue that thoughts and other mental activity play
an essential role in the formation of emotions.
Physiological theories
a) The James-Lange Theory of Emotion
It was proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange.
 It suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events.
Emotions occur when individuals become aware of a physiological response to an
emotion-provoking stimulus.
James believed that you feel emotions after your body reacts.
For example, if a soldier raised his gun the moment he saw you coming, James would say
that you would first run, and then feel afraid.
In his 1884 article William James argued that feelings and emotions
were secondary to physiological phenomena. In his theory, James proposed that the
perception of what he called an "exciting fact" led directly to a physiological response,
known as "emotion." To account for different types of emotional experiences, James
proposed that stimuli trigger activity in the autonomic nervous system, which in turn
produces an emotional experience in the brain. The Danish psychologist Carl Lange also
proposed a similar theory at around the same time, and therefore this theory became
known as the James–Lange theory. As James wrote, "the perception of bodily changes,
as they occur, is the emotion." James further claims that "we feel sad because we cry,
angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and neither we cry, strike, nor
tremble because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be."
An example of this theory in action would be as follows: An emotion-evoking stimulus
(snake) triggers a pattern of physiological response (increased heart rate, faster breathing,
etc.), which is interpreted as a particular emotion (fear).
The issue with the James–Lange theory is that of causation (bodily states causing
emotions and being a priori)

The James–Lange theory has remained influential. Its main contribution is the emphasis
it places on the embodiment of emotions, especially the argument that changes in the
bodily concomitants of emotions can alter their experienced intensity.

b)The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

This theory suggests that the thalamus simultaneously sends an emotion-provoking
stimulus to the brain providing feeling of an emotion, and to the sympathetic nervous
system, causing physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension
simultaneously.
For example you perceive the threat of being shot, and the results of that perception
marshal the body’s resources for fleeing or fighting at the same time as they generate an
emotion.
Bodily emotions and the experience of emotion arise in tandem/simultaneously.
Cognitive theories
a)Schachter-Singer Theory/ the two-factor theory of emotion.
This theory suggests that the physiological arousal occurs first, and then the individual
must identify the reason behind this arousal in order to experience and label it as an
emotion.
Schathter and Jerome Singer (1962) developed a theory of emotion that gave cognition a
greater role in emotion.
They proposed that emotion is determined by two main factors:
Physiological arousal
Cognitive labeling
They argue that we look to the external world for an explanation of why we are aroused.
We interpret the external cues present and label the emotion.
For example if you feel good after someone has made a pleasant comment to you, you
might label the emotion “happy.” If you feel bad after you have done something wrong,
you may label the feeling “guilty.”
 Schachter did agree that physiological reactions played a big role in emotions. He
suggested that physiological reactions contributed to emotional experience by
facilitating a focused cognitive appraisal of a given physiologically arousing event and
that this appraisal was what defined the subjective emotional experience. Emotions were
thus a result of two stage process: general physiological arousal, and experience of
emotion.
 For example, the physiological arousal, heart pounding, in a response to an evoking
stimulus, the sight of a lion in the kitchen. The brain then quickly scans the area, to
explain the pounding, and notices the lion. Consequently, the brain interprets the
pounding heart as being the result of fearing the lion.
b)Richard Lazarus
Lazarus (1991) believes cognitive activity is a precondition for emotion.
He says we cognitively appraise ourselves and our social circumstances.
These appraisals which include values, goals, commitments, beliefs, and expectations
determine our emotions.

People may feel happy because they have a deep religious commitment, angry because
they did not get the raise they expected, or fearful because they expect to fail an exam.
Richard Lazarus argued that emotions must have some cognitive intentionality. The
cognitive activity involved in the interpretation of an emotional context may be conscious
or unconscious and may or may not take the form of conceptual processing.
Lazarus' theory is very influential; emotion is a disturbance that occurs in the following
order:
Cognitive appraisal—the individual assesses the event cognitively, which cues the
emotion.
Physiological changes—the cognitive reaction starts biological changes such as
increased heart rate or pituitary adrenal response.
Action—the individual feels the emotion and chooses how to react.
For example: Jenny sees a snake.
1. Jenny cognitively assesses the snake in her presence. Cognition allows her to understand
it as a danger.
2. Her brain activates Adrenaline gland which pumps Adrenaline through her blood stream
resulting in increased heartbeat.
3. Jenny screams and runs away.
Behavioral dimension
The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial expressions can influence emotions as
well as reflect them.
In this view, facial muscles send signals to the brain, which helps individuals recognize
the emotion they are experiencing.
Particular facial expressions alter the flow of blood to particular regions of the brain,
thereby evoking particular emotional experiences.
Sociocultural dimension
Paul Ekman’s (1980,1996) careful observations reveal that our many faces of emotion
do not vary significantly from culture to culture.
Plutchik's Eight Basic Emotions
Plutchik's eight basic or primary emotions
are Joy, Trust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Anticipation,Anger, and Disgust. Each primary
emotion has a polar opposite, so that:

Joy is the opposite of Sadness

Fear is the opposite of Anger

Anticipation is the opposite of Surprise
Disgust is the opposite of Trus

Functions of emotions
Help guide us to approach some things and withdraw from others
Provide visible cues that help other people know key aspects of our thoughts and desires
Emotions can play an important role in how we think and behave. First, it is important to
understand the three critical components of an emotion. Our emotions are composed of a
subjective component (how we experience the emotion), a physiological component (how our
bodies react to the emotion), and an expressive component (how we behave in response to the
emotion). These different elements can play a role in the function and purpose of our emotional
responses.
Our emotions can be short-lived, such as a flash of annoyance at a co-worker, or long-lasting,
such as enduring sadness over the loss of a relationship. But why exactly do we experience
emotions? What role do they serve?

1)Emotions Communicate to and Influence Others. We communicate or emotions to others with
verbal and nonverbal (facial expressions, body gestures or postures) language. Some expressions
of emotion have an automatic effect on others. When there is a difference in what a person
communicates non-verbally versus verbally, the other person will usually respond to the
nonverbal expression.

2)Emotions Organize and Motivate Action
Emotions prepare for and motivate action. There is an action urge connected to specific
emotions that is hard-wired( "Hard-wired" means it is an automatic, built-in part of our
behaviour). For example, if you see your two-year old child in the middle of the street and a car
coming, you will feel an emotion, fear, and this emotion will prompt you to run to save your
child. You don't stop to think about it. You just do it. Your emotion has motivated your behavior
without you having to take the time to think.
3)Emotions can also help us overcome obstacles in our environment. An example - the anxiety
someone feels when they are about to take a test. This anxiety, though it's uncomfortable, helps
to motivate you to study so you will do well on the test.
4)Emotions can be self-validating-Emotions can give us information about a situation or event.
They can signal to us that something is going on.
Sometimes signals about a situation will be picked up unconsciously, and then we may have an
emotional reaction, but not be sure what set off the reaction. Feeling "something doesn't feel
right about this" or "I had a feeling something was going to happen and it did" are some of the
signals we might get.
5)Emotions help us survive, thrive, and avoid danger. Naturalist Charles Darwin believed that
emotions are adaptations that allow both humans and animals to survive and reproduce. When
we are angry, we are likely to confront the source of our irritation. When we experience fear, we
are more likely to flee the situation or threat. When we feel love, we might seek out a mate and
reproduce. Emotions serve an adaptive role in our lives by motivating us to act quickly and take
actions that will maximize our chances for success.
6)Emotions can help us make decisions.Our emotions have a major influence on the decisions
we make, from what we decide to have for breakfast to which candidates we choose to vote for
in political elections. Researchers have also found that people with certain types of brain
damage that impairs their ability to experience emotions also have a decreased ability to make
good decisions. Even in situations where we believe our decisions are guided purely by logic and
rationality, emotions play a key role. Emotional intelligence, or our ability to understand and
manage emotions, has been shown to play an important role in decision-making.
7)Emotions allow other people to understand us. When we interact with other people, it is
important to give cues to help them understand how we are feeling. These cues might involve
emotional expression through body language, such as various facial expressions connected with
the particular emotions we are experiencing. In other cases, it might involve directly stating how
we are feeling. When we tell friends or family members that we are feeling happy, sad, excited,
or frightened, we are giving them important information that they can then use to take action.
8)Emotions allow us to understand others.Just as our own emotions provide valuable
information to others, the emotional expressions of those around us gives us a wealth of social
information. Social communication is an important part of our daily lives and relationships, and
being able to interpret and react to the emotions of others is essential. It allows us to respond
appropriately and build deeper, more meaningful relationships with our friends, family, and
loved ones. It also allows us to communicate effectively in a variety of social situations, from
dealing with an irate customer to managing a hot-headed employee.
9)Emotions help us survive, thrive, and avoid danger.Naturalist Charles Darwin believed that
emotions are adaptations that allow both humans and animals to survive and reproduce. When
we are angry, we are likely to confront the source of our irritation. When we experience fear, we
are more likely to flee the situation or threat. When we feel love, we might seek out a mate and
reproduce. Emotions serve an adaptive role in our lives by motivating us to act quickly and take
actions that will maximize our chances for success.
Summary
Our emotions serve a wide variety of purposes. Emotions can be fleeting, persistent, powerful,
complex, and even life-changing. They can motivate us to act in particular ways and give us the
tools and resources we need to interact meaningfully in our social worlds.