Theories of Emotion

Theories of Emotion

James Lunge Theory

This theory proposes that our experience of emotion is due to our awareness or perception of the physiological and bodily responses we make to an emotion producing situation. Thus, based on this theory, we are happy because we smile, afraid because we tremble, or in love because our heartbeats fast when we see the object of our affection.

Cannon-Bard Theory

Walter Cannon criticized Lames Lange Theory particularly on its assumption that people can differentiate between physiological changes that go with an emotional reaction and thereby identify the emotion that they experiencing. He claimed that there was no evidence to prove this assumption. In lieu of James-Lange explanation, he proposed a theory of his own, which was later expanded by Philip Bard and came to be known as the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion.

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion proposes that emotion producing stimuli activate the lower brain center, the hypothalamus, which sends messages to the celebral cortex and organs such as the heart and stomach. This stimulation of the celebral cortex results in the experience of emotion and  excitation  of the organ leading to the physiological arousal accompanying the said experience of emotion . Thus for Cannon, emotion and physiological arousal occur at the same time, not one after another.

Schacter-Singer Theory

This theory was proposed in the early 1960s, by Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer. According to this theory, when people become aware that they are aroused, they searched their environment to look for their arousal. This interpretation of arousal leads them to experience a specific emotion.

For instance, when we began to experience physiological arousal, we look for an explanation for it by examining the situation we are presently in. Depending on the available information from the environment, we then to give a label to the experience we are having.

Opponent-Process Theory

This theory was developed by Richard I. Solomon and his colleagues. According to this theory, each emotion or state that we  experience triggers a force to experience the opposite emotion or state. For instance, if we are pain, we tend to feel  a sense of relief when the stimulus of pain is removed if we feel happy in the company of our peers or loved ones we feel unhappy, if they are not around.

Accordingly, the effects of the opposite pair is to diminish the intensity and duration of our emotional experience, and to increase the likelihood that we experience the opposite emotion.

reference : General Psychology

authors: Agustin G. Huyong