How psychologists explain how, why, and what we feel
Emotions can be complex and confusing.
Why exactly do we have emotions?
Emotions exert a potent force on human behavior.
Verywell / Jiaqi Zhou
Strong emotions can cause people to take actions they might not normally perform or to avoid situations they enjoy.
Emotion is a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior.
Such feelings include physiological arousal, conscious experiences, and behavioral expressions.
Emotionality is associated with a range of psychological phenomena, including temperament,personality, mood, andmotivation.
Types of Theories of Emotion
Emotional theories vary in terms of what they focus on.
Verywell / Jiaqi Zhou
Evolutionary Theory of Emotion
This theory suggests that emotions have an evolutionary origin.
NaturalistCharles Darwinproposed that emotions evolved because they were adaptive and allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce.
Feelings of love and affection lead people to seek mates and reproduce.
Feelings of fear compel people to fight or flee the source of danger.
Understanding the emotions of other people and animals also plays a crucial role in safety and survival.
According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, an external stimulus leads to a physiological reaction.
Your emotional reaction depends upon how you interpret those physical reactions.
For example, suppose you are walking in the woods and see a grizzly bear.
You begin to tremble, and your heart begins to race.
The James-Lange theory proposes that you will conclude that you are frightened (“I am trembling.
Therefore, I am afraid”).
According to this theory of emotion, you are not trembling because you are frightened.
Instead, you feel frightened because you are trembling.
The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Another well-known physiological theory is theCannon-Bard theory of emotion.
Walter Cannon disagreed with the James-Lange theory of emotion on several different grounds.
First, he suggested, people can experience physiological reactions linked to emotions without actually feeling those emotions.
For example, your heart might race because you have been exercising, not because you are afraid.
Cannon also suggested that emotional responses occur too quickly to simply be products of physical states.
At the same time, the brain also receives signals triggering the emotional experience.
A stimulus leads to a physiological response that is then cognitively interpreted and labeled, resulting in an emotion.
Schachter and Singers theory draws on both the James-Lange theory and the Cannon-Bard theory.
Like the James-Lange theory, the Schachter-Singer theory proposes that people infer emotions based on physiological responses.
The critical factor is the situation and the cognitive interpretation that people use to label that emotion.
The Schachter-Singer theory is a cognitive theory of emotion that suggests our thoughts are responsible for emotions.
Like the Cannon-Bard theory, the Schachter-Singer theory also suggests that similar physiological responses can produce varying emotions.
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
According to appraisal theories of emotion, thinking must occur first before experiencing emotion.
This then leads to the emotional experience of fear and the physical reactions associated with thefight-or-flight response.
The facial-feedback theory suggests that emotions are directly tied to changes in facial muscles.
Theories of emotion continue to evolve, exploring what causes feelings and how these feelings affect us.
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