Emotion

• Emotion:
• Can be defined as the “feeling” aspect of
consciousness; characterized by three elements: a
certain physical arousal, a certain behavior that
reveals the feeling to the outside world, and an
inner awareness of feelings
• Common-sense theory of emotion:
• A stimulus (snarling dog) leads to an emotion of
fear, which then leads to bodily arousal (shaking)
through the ANS
• I am shaking because I am afraid
• stimulus (Snarling dog)----first response (fear)----
second response (ANS arousal)
• Seeing a snarling dog in one’s path causes the
feeling of fear, which stimulates the body to
arousal, followed by the behavoural act of running;
that is, people are aroused because they are afraid.
 James-Lange Theory of Emotion
• William James (1884, 1890, 1894): Founder of functionalist perspective
disagreed with common sense perspective.
• Physiologist and psychologist of Denmark, Carl Lange (1885)
• James-Lange theory of emotion:
• A stimulus (Snarling dog) produces a
physiological reaction. This reaction, which is the
arousal of the fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous
system (wanting to run), produces bodily
sensations such as increased heart rate, dry
mouth, and rapid breathing.
• Theory in which a physiological reaction leads to
the labeling of an emotion
– I am nervous because my stomach is fluttering
– I am embarrassed because my face is red
– I am afraid because I am aroused.

• What about people who have spinal cord injuries

that prevent the sympathetic nervous system
functioning?
– Though James-Lange predicted this, but according
to several studies people experience some
emotions after injury, sometimes even more
intensely.
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
In the James-Lange theory of emotion, a
stimulus leads to bodily arousal first, which is
then interpreted as an emotion.
 Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
• Cannon-Bard theory of emotion:
• Physiologist Walter Cannon (1927) and Phillip Bard (1934):
• Cannon: an expert in Sympathetic arousal mechanisms, did not feel
that the physical changes caused by various emotions were distinct
enough to allow them to be perceived as different emotions.
• Bard: sensory information that comes into brain is sent
simultaneously (by thalamus) to both the cortex and the organs of
SNS.
• theory in which the physiological reaction and the emotion are
assumed to occur at the same time
• Cannon-Bard theorized that the thalamus plays a key role in
emotional responses. It not only channels sensory input to the
cerebral cortex, where it is interpreted, but at the same time it sends
activation messages through the peripheral nervous system to the
viscera and skeletal muscles.
• These activation messages trigger the physiological and
behavioural responses that typically accompany emotions.
Cannon-Bard Theory of Stimulus First
response Second response Emotion
In the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, a stimulus
leads to activity in the brain, which then sends
signals to arouse the body and interpret the
emotion at the same time.
• Critics:
• Lashley (1938) stated that thalamus not able to
sense all possible human emotions and relay them
to the proper areas of the cortex and body.
• Other areas of the brain must be involved in
processing emotional reactions.
• Studies of people with spinal cord injuries:
– People don’t need feedback from those organs to
experience emotion.
– There is an alternate pathway that does provide
feedback from these organs to the cortex, that is Vagus
nerve, one of the cranial nerves.
 Cognitive Arousal Theory of Emotion
• Cognitive arousal theory(two-factor theory):
• Scachter and Singer (1962)
• theory of emotion in which both the physical
arousal and the labeling of that arousal based on
cues from the environment must occur before the
emotion is experienced
• I am aroused in the presence of a scary dog; therefore, I
must be afraid
• The physical arousal and a labeling of the arousal based
on cues from the surrounding environment. These two
things happen at the same time, resulting in the labeling
of the emotion.
• Emotion depend on a kind of double cognitive
interpretation: we appraise the emotion-causing event
while also evaluating what is happening with our bodies.
The key process in emotional arousal is how we interpret
feedback from our bodies in light of our present
situation.
• Example: if a person comes across a snarling dog, the
physical arousal (heart racing, eyes opening wide) is
accompanied by the thought (cognition) that this must be
fear. Then and only then will the person experience the
fear of emotion.
Schachter-Singer Cognitive Arousal Theory of
Emotion
Schachter and Singer’s cognitive arousal theory is
similar to the James-Lange theory but adds the element
of cognitive labeling of the arousal. In this theory, a
stimulus leads to both bodily arousal and the labeling of
that arousal (based on the surrounding context), which
leads to the experience and labeling of the emotional
reaction.
 The biological basis of emotion
• First, it appears that the right cerebral hemisphere plays an
especially important role in emotional functions
• The right hemisphere seems to be specialized for processing
emotional information.
• Individuals with damage to the right hemisphere have
difficulty in understanding the emotional tone of another
person’s voice or in correctly describing emotional scenes.
Similarly, among healthy persons with no damage to their
brains, individuals do better at identifying others’ emotions
when such information is presented to their right hemisphere
rather than to their left hemisphere
• The right hemisphere also seems to be specialized for the
expression of emotion; for instance, patients with damage to
the right hemisphere are less successful at expressing
emotions through the tone of their voice than persons
without such damage
• There appear to be important differences between the left and
right hemispheres of the brain with respect to two key aspects of
emotion: valence—the extent to which an emotion is pleasant or
unpleasant; and arousal—the intensity of emotion.
• Activation of the left hemisphere is associated with approach,
response to reward, and positive affect (i.e., positive feelings),
whereas activation of the right hemisphere is associated with
avoidance, withdrawal from aversive stimuli, and negative affect
• Anterior regions of the hemispheres are associated primarily with
the valence (pleasant– unpleasant) dimension, while posterior
regions are associated primarily with arousal (intensity).
• These findings have important implications for our understanding
of the neural basis of various psychological disorders.
• For instance, depression and anxiety involve negative feelings or
emotions, but depression is usually associated with low arousal
(depressed people lack energy), while anxiety is associated with
high arousal
• Persons suffering from depression should show reduced activity in
the right posterior region, while persons suffering from anxiety
should show increased activity in that brain region
• The amygdala seems to be involved in our ability to judge the
intensity, although not the valence, of others’ emotions
• Limbic System: Often called the "emotional brain," this
interconnected group of structures plays a central role in
processing and regulating emotions, memory, and motivation.
• The ANS controls involuntary bodily functions and is heavily
activated during emotional experiences. It has two main
branches that work in opposition to maintain balance:
• Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS):"Fight-or-Flight" Response:
Activated during stress or perceived danger.
– Physiological Changes: Increases heart rate, accelerates breathing,
dilates pupils, inhibits digestion, diverts blood to muscles, and
releases adrenaline and norepinephrine. These changes prepare
the body for immediate action.
• Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS):"Rest-and-Digest"
Response: Promotes relaxation and recovery.
– Physiological Changes: Decreases heart rate, slows breathing,
constricts pupils, stimulates digestion, and conserves energy. It
helps the body return to a calm state after a stressor.
 Emotion and Feelings
External expression of emotion: outward signs of inner feelings
• Emotions are a private affair. No one, no matter how intimate with us they are, can
truly share our subjective inner experiences. Yet we are able to recognize the
presence of various emotions in others, and we are able to communicate our own
feelings to them as well
• Nonverbal cues—
• outward signs of others’ internal emotional states shown in their facial expressions,
body posture, and other behaviors
• Different kind of communication occurs through several different channels or paths
simultaneously. The most revealing of these involve facial expressions and body
movements and posture
• Unmasking the Face: Facial Expressions as Clues to Others’ Emotions
• Six different basic emotions are represented clearly, and from an
early age, on the human face: anger, fear, sadness, disgust,
happiness, and surprise. In addition, some findings suggest that
another emotion contempt
• Gestures, Posture, and Movements
• Body Language: Nonverbal cues involving body
posture of movement of body parts
• frequent body movements, especially ones in which
a particular part of the body does something to
another part, such as touching, scratching, or
rubbing, suggest emotional arousal. The greater the
frequency of such behavior, the higher a person’s
level of arousal or nervousness seems to be
• More specific information about others’ feelings is
often provided by gestures—body movements
carrying specific meanings in a given culture.
 Emotion and cognition
• There are important links between emotion and
cognition—between the way we feel and the way we think
• How affect influences cognition
• The impact of our current moods, or affective states, on
our perception of ambiguous stimuli. In general, we
perceive and evaluate these stimuli more favorably when
we are in a good mood than when we are in a negative one
• Another way in which affect influences cognition is through
its impact on the style of information processing we adopt.
A positive affect encourages us to adopt a flexible, fluid
style of thinking, while negative affect leads us to engage in
more systematic and careful processing
• How cognition influences affect
• When internal reactions are ambiguous, we look outward—at
our own behavior or at other aspects of the external world—
for clues about the nature of our feelings. In such cases the
emotions or feelings we experience are strongly determined
by the interpretation or cognitive labels we select
• cognition can affect emotions is through the activation of
schemas containing a strong affective component. For
example, if we label an individual as belonging to some
group, our schema for this social category may suggest what
traits he or she probably possesses. In addition, it may also
tell us how we feel about such persons.
• our thoughts can often influence our reactions to emotion-
provoking events. For example, anger and resulting aggressive
motivation can often be reduced by apologies and other
information that helps explain why others have treated us in a
provocative manner