Theories of emotion with examples

Theories of emotion

Introduction:

 Emotion is a complex psychological phenomenon containing within itself feelings physiological changes as well as cognitive processes. Emotion is what makes us human then some may disagree and say well we have evidence that animals experience emotions as well. Yes, there are some basic emotions that are not only common across all cultures but are also present in some higher primate. So, emotions like sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, happiness, and so on, are experienced almost identically across the globe among all different cultures studied by psychologists.

THEORIES:

Charles Darwin:

Charles Darwin was the first person who presented a theory of emotions and he obviously argued that emotions were a product of the evolutionary process. 

James Lange:

More recently, James Lange presented a theory of emotions that was very, very counter intuitive, in fact people thought that it was against common sense. But they said that we experience emotions after the physiological changes occur. 

Example:

An example of application of this theory, I would say that James Lange argue that we become happy when we smile. Because we run, we feel afraid. Now you may think that that's as I said against common sense and counterintuitive, but what they actually observed was that this is in fact how many animals react to the environment.

So, if a snake appears in front of you, you will think later you will realize that you're afraid later the physiological changes will occur regardless of your subjective experience, in fact your subjective experience of fear will come later, first you will either run or attack the snake.

So, this theory there was considerable evidence for it but then there were findings that also seem to contradict many of its postulate.

Schachter and Singer:

We have another very important theory which is presented by Schachter and Singer.

Schachter and Singer proposed that we do not experience physiological changes prior to the evaluation of the situation, but that these happen simultaneously.

So, while on the one hand in James Lange theory, we're experiencing the physiological changes, we stick a label onto those physiological changes and then we determine whether or not it's anger or fear. Because as you're aware we experience identical emotional reaction.

So Schachter and Singer argued that we experience emotions in such a way that the physiological changes accompany cognitive appraisal or cognitive evaluation of the situation.

Example:

If a snake appears before us, we may choose to either attack it or we may choose to run away, the cognitive label that would be put on it would correspond to our behavior, so if we ran away, we would stick the label fear on that emotion and if we choose to attack it, we'd stick the label anger on the same physiological experience.

The cognitive evaluation of the experience accompanies, or the cognitive label accompanies the experience of emotion.

 Lazarus:

Finally, Lazarus came up with another model and Lazarus's model was which makes not only more sense but also there seems to be enough data to confirm his theory and the idea is that every stimulus that we're presented with, is appraised cognitively first.

Example:

For instance, when we see a snake the process of perception has to take place our brain our nervous system our neural networks have to give us the perception, give us the judgment that there is a snake Infront of us and along with that the cognitive label of the situation as something that requires running away produces the emotion of fear.

Epictetus:

Famous stoic philosopher Epictetus was the first person to propose this idea, the idea that we feel the way we think, regardless of the threats in the environment, regardless of the stimuli in the environment, a human being first evaluates the situation and then reacts.

conclusion:

So, we see how the earlier model in which the physiological experience preceded the cognitive appraisal was not only against common sense, but the evidence was also overwhelmingly in favor of the perception and cognition happening before the appearance of the physiological reaction. 

Example:

For example, somebody insults you and you think about their insult you think whether it is something worth talking about that threatens you, you think do I really need to react to this insult, whether or not that insult is a threat to my existence, and you choose to forgive the person, you choose not to react and therefore, do not express the emotion of anger.

On the other hand, the same insult caused to another human being might draw anger and aggression and that would happen if you saw that insult as a threat to your personality, as if something terrible has happened to you, you see that as an assault on your ego and therefore choose to retaliate, in that case you will experience anger.

So, you see there is a lot more evidence in favor of the theory of cognitive mediation. The idea that our thoughts generate our emotions.

In fact, albert Ellis's cognitive behavior therapy, better known as rational emotive behavior therapy, is based on this simple idea.

We know from the life of great men, that many of them, in fact a great majority of them, chose not to react to things like insult, chose not to react to things like perceived threats, but in fact were proactive and were motivated by higher goals.

While for the most part it is difficult to control our emotions the existences of extraordinary men show us that we can in fact manage our emotion it might be difficult to absolutely control our emotions, but we can manage our emotions better by thinking them through, because there is a very strong cognitive element there is a very strong thinking element of an emotion and emotion does not exist just as a physiological reaction. When you're afraid your heartbeat goes up, your blood pressure goes up, your skin resistance increases, your breathing rate goes up, and identical physiological reactions happen when you're angry.

So, the physiological state is not enough to tell us whether you're afraid or you're angry, it is your perception of the situation, it is your logical decision about whether or not you need to take off from it since it's a danger or it's a threat that you can actually confront and eliminate through anger and aggression.

I would say that Lazarus's cognitive mediational model is in fact the most valid given the evidence, we feel the way we think not the other way out. And that in fact has been such an empowering idea that it allows us to take our lives and our emotional experience in our control.

And as said earlier we may not always be able to control our emotions we can definitely manage them much better by thinking about things, by choosing what is in our best interest and, in that of the other people involved. Emotions perform a purpose, and that purpose should be logically in the direction of our goal achievement, in the direction of our achievement of targets and, not to subvert us. We know that emotional difficulties arise when our emotions go against our conscious decision.

Sometimes our emotions are telling us, are giving us an important message.

For example:

So, if I go to a job consistently every day of the week and I'm feeling anxious and angry and upset at the end of it my emotions are telling me and I'm not happy then perhaps I should change my job.

On the other hand, if I'm feeling fulfilled if I'm feeling happy at the end of the day it's a signal that I am happy doing, what I'm doing.

It is my cognitive appraisal in the end that determines how I feel and remember if you choose the motto for your life, you feel the way you think your life will never be the same.