Theories of Emotion
Two-Factor Theory
James Lange Theory
Cannon-Bard Theory
Emotions are our body’s adaptive response.
Theories of Emotion
Emotions are a mix of:
1) Physiological activation (heart pounding)
2) Expressive behaviors (angry look on face)
3) Conscious experience (I can’t believe this jerk
thinks he can steal my glue!)
Controversy
1) Does physiological arousal precede or
follow your emotional experience?
2) Does cognition (thinking) precede emotion
(feeling)?
Commonsense View
• When you become happy, your heart starts
beating faster.
– First comes conscious awareness, then comes
physiological activity.
Bob Sacha
James-Lange Theory
• William James and Carl
Lange proposed an idea that
was opposed to the
common-sense view.
• The James-Lange Theory
proposes that physiological
activity precedes the
emotional experience.
• In other words, the JamesLange theory of emotion
holds that you:
– You see a snake, your pulse
races, and you feel afraid
because your pulse is racing
Cannon-Bard Theory
• Walter Cannon and Phillip
Bard questioned the JamesLange Theory and proposed:
– That an emotion-triggering
stimulus and the body's arousal
take place simultaneously
– One does not cause the other.
– The Cannon-Bard theory holds
that you see a snake, the
information is sent to the
thalamus, which relays the
signals simultaneously to the
cortex and to the autonomic
nervous system.
Two-Factor Theory
• Stanley Schachter and
Jerome Singer (1962)
proposed yet another theory
which suggests our
physiology and cognitions
create emotions.
– Emotions have two factors:
• _________________________
• _________________________
• Because emotions are
physiologically similar
(anger might have the same
physiological sensations as
fear)
• An emotional experience
requires a conscious
interpretation of the
physiological arousal.
– Therefore, Schacter’s TwoFactor Theory holds that you
feel autonomic arousal and
look around to see why…if
there’s a snake you feel fear.
Classic Theories of Emotion - Recap
Figure 12.1 Theories of emotion
Myers: Psychology, Ninth Edition
Copyright © 2010 by Worth Publishers
Fig. 10-23, p. 405