Theories of Emotion
• Does your heart pound
because you are afraid...
or are you afraid because you
feel your heart pounding?
Cannon-Bard
Theory of Emotion
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
• Emotion-arousing
stimuli simultaneously
trigger:
– physiological
responses
– subjective experience
of emotion
James-Lange
Theory of Emotion
• Experience of emotion is awareness of
physiological responses to emotion-arousing
stimuli
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Fear
(emotion)
James-Lange (cont.)
• Subjects report
feeling more sad
when viewing scenes
of war, sickness, and
starvation if their “sad
face” muscles are
activation.
• They also find comic
strips funnier if their
“happy face” muscles
are activated.
Schachter’s Two Factor
Theory of Emotion
Pounding
heart
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
car
(perception of
stimulus)
Cognitive
label
“I’m afraid”
• To experience
emotion one
Fear
(emotion)
must:
– be physically
aroused
– cognitively
label the
arousal
Schachter’s Two-Factor (cont.)
Epinephrine Study:
Injection
Told
Emotion
Group 1
Epinephrine
Will increase
arousal
Mild
Group 2
Epinephrine
Will have no
effect
Strong
Schachter’s Two-Factor (cont.)
• Swinging Bridge
Study
Would you like my
phone number?
Reviewing the three
Emotion occurs
at the same time
as arousal
Emotion follows
(lags behind)
arousal
Arousal +
Cognitive label
 Emotion
Arousal and Performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance
level
Difficult tasks
Low
Easy tasks
Arousal
High
• Performance
peaks at
lower levels
of arousal for
difficult tasks,
and at higher
levels for
easy or welllearned tasks
Experiencing Emotion
• Does money buy happiness?
Average
per-person
after-tax income
in 1995 dollars
$20,000
$19,000
$18,000
100%
$17,000
90%
$16,000
$15,000
80%
$14,000
70%
$13,000
Personal income
$12,000
60%
$11,000
50%
$10,000
Percentage very happy 40%
$9,000
30%
$8,000
$7,000
20%
$6,000
10%
$5,000
0%
$4,000
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Year
Percentage
describing
themselves as
very happy
Experiencing Emotion
• Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
– tendency to form judgements relative to a
“neutral” level
• brightness of lights
• volume of sound
• level of income
– defined by our prior experience
• Relative Deprivation
– perception that one is worse off relative to
those with whom one compares oneself
Happiness is...
Researchers Have Found That
Happy People Tend to
However, Happiness Seems Not Much
Related to Other Factors, Such as
Have high self-esteem
(in individualistic countries)
Age
Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable
Gender (women are more often
depressed, but also more often joyful)
Have close friendships or a satisfying
marriage
Education levels
Have work and leisure that engage
their skills
Parenthood (having children or not)
Have a meaningful religious faith
Physical attractiveness
Sleep well and exercise
Experiencing Emotion
• Catharsis
– emotional release
– catharsis hypothesis
• “releasing” aggressive energy (through
action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Opponent-Process
Theory of Emotion
Strong
Strong
Neutral
Neutral
Strong
Strong
First experience
(a)
After repeated experiences
(b)
EmotionLie Detectors
• Polygraph
– machine commonly used in attempts to
detect lies
– measures several of the physiological
responses accompanying emotion
• perspiration
• heart rate
• blood pressure
• breathing changes
EmotionA Polygraph Examination
Emotion- Lie Detectors
• Control Question
– Up to age 18, did you ever physically
harm anyone?
• Relevant Question
– Did the deceased threaten to harm
you in any way?
• Relevant > Control --> Lie
EmotionLie Detectors
Respiration
Perspiration
Heart rate
Control Relevant
question question
(a)
Control
question
Relevant
question
(b)
EmotionLie Detectors
• 50 Innocents
• 50 Theives
Percentage
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Innocent
people
Guilty
people
Judged innocent by polygraph
Judged guilty by polygraph
– 1/3 of innocent
declared guilty
– 1/4 of guilty
declared
innocent (from
Kleinmuntz &
Szucko, 1984)