theories of emotion

3. • It is derived from a Latin word
“emovere” meaning ‘to stir up’ or
‘to agitate’
• It is an affective experience that
accompanies generalized inner
adjustment and mental and
physiological stirred up states in
the individual and that shows
itself in his overt behavior.

4. Emotion has 2 components
1. Physical reaction
2. Conscious experience or feeling
Emotion is controlled by
• Endocrine glands
• Autonomic nervous system
• Brain

5. They affect the emotional behavior by increasing
or decreasing the secretion of the respective
hormones.
Imbalance of
•Oestrogen – anxiety and mood swings
•Progesterone – insomnia, head ache and anxiety
•Testosterone – decreased sex drive and erectile
dysfunction
•Serotonin (anti depressant ) – aggressive and
impulsive behaviour
•GABA (anti anxiety, anti pain, sleep) –
Restlessness and anxiety
•Dopamine – mood swings and cognitive
problems

6. Consists of two divisions
1. Sympathetic division
2. Parasympathetic division

7. Fear or anger
Sympathetic division
Adrenal gland
ADR, NA
Increase in HR
Increase in BP
Increased blood sugar
Pupillary dilatation
Inhibits salivation
Relaxes bronchi
Inhibits peristalsis
Skin perspires
FEAR OR
ANGER

8. Calmness
relaxed period
Parasympathetic division
Decrease in HR
Decrease in BP
Pupillary constriction
Increases salivation
Constricts bronchi
Stimulates peristalsis
Skin dries
Calmness
and relaxed
period

10. It controls the somatic and autonomic patterns
of activity .
In others words, it controls the physiological
expression of emotion
The aroused state that is part of
emotion is due to increased
activation of brain cells in
•Cerebral cortex
•Hypothalamus
•Limbic system
•ARAS

11. The Sympathetic and Parasympathetic division have
centers in the hypothalamus.
•Stimulation of the posterior area of the
hypothalamus  sympathetic activity  anxiety
or tension
•Stimulation of the anterior area of the
hypothalamus  parasympathetic activity 
depression or relaxation
Specific emotions result in specific bodily changes.
Happiness  HR
Surprise
Angry
Fearfulness  HR
Sad mood

12. •Facial movements can influence emotional
experience. An individual who is forced to
smile in an event will find the event more
enjoyable one.
•Suppressing facial expression 
emotions
•Facial muscle movements are closely
related to the body’s physiological
response in emotion.
•Emotions are also displayed through
1. Tone of voice
2. Behaviour
3. Body language
Facial expressions and emotion

13. Ekman and colleagues have shown that there are
six basic emotions that are expressed in the face.
These are universal.

14. THEORIES OF EMOTION

15. In 1870, Charles Darwin said
•Emotions evolved because they were adaptive.
• 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 either fight or flee
the source of danger.
•Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to
stimuli, which improve the chances of success and
survival.
•Understanding the emotions of other people and
animals also plays a crucial role in safety and
survival. If you encounter a hissing animal you
quickly realize and run away.

16. Proposed by William James and Carl Lange in 1885

17. Felt emotion is the perception of bodily changes. Emotion
spring from physiological reaction.
The perception of stimulus
physiological changes
specific sensations
brain interprets these sensations as different
emotions.
•Bodily changes, both the internal changes in the ANS and
external movements of the body precede the emotional
experience.
•For this theory to work there should be different sets of
internal and external bodily changes for each emotion.

18. James Lange Theory

19. Criticism against James Lange Theory
On most occasions emotion occurs
immediately after the stimulus. E.g. hearing a
loud bang and being startled. But our visceral
responses could not be that fast.
In case of less intense emotion, the bodily
patterns can’t be perceived.
On many occasions we experience
physiological changes but do not experience
emotion e.g. joggers have a pounding heart
but there is no associated emotion.
With the same physiological arousal, people
can experience different emotions. E.g. a
person may have racing heart both when he is
angry and when he is afraid.

20. Proposed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard in 1927.

21. Felt emotions and physiological
responses are independent events.
They occur simultaneously.

23. Proposed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer

24. Two factors jointly determine the emotional
experience.
•Physiological arousal
•Interpretation of the experience based on the
environmental cues.
 Bodily state of emotional arousal is much
same for most of the emotions we feel. But
people have different emotions because of the
differences in the way they interpret.
In other words, our emotional arousal
depends on both physiological changes and
cognitive or mental interpretation of those
changes. Since this interpretation is purely by
cognitive functioning, cognitive factors are said
to be the potent determiners of emotional
states.

26. Subjects injected Inj. ADR
Informed that Inj. Not Informed that Inj.
Will cause arousal Will cause arousal
Attributed arousal Ignorant about
To Inj. Inj. Action
put in a put in a
happy situation angrier situation
more happier more angrier
Different emotions were
experienced with the same state
of physiological arousal

27. Proposed by Richard Lazarus in 1970.

28. Emotions we feel result from appraisals or
evaluation of information’s coming from the
•environmental situations
•the body
•the memory
In addition, appraisal comes from
•Memories of past encounters with similar
situations
•Dispositions to respond in certain ways
•Consideration of consequences of actions
that might result from the emotional state
Outcome of complex appraisal of all these
information is the emotion.

29. Subjects shown an emotion producing movie
Circumcision rites of Australian aborigeenes
4 different sound tracks
Trauma denial intellectualization no
track track track track
Stress reaction
HR, Skin conductance
Highest lowest lowest next highest
Sound tracks induced to make different appraisals of
the same stimulus – film
Different emotion occurs to same stimulus because of
the differences in the appraisal of the stimulus.

30. Reappraisal
It is an important part of the cognitive theory.
It is a way of coping with the stressful situations.
Suppose
If called by  appraisal  FEAR
The Dean
You got the  reappraisal  FEAR PLEASURE
First mark
People reappraise with the emotion producing stimuli with
•Denial – it is not stressful at all think positively
•Intellectualization – this is all very interesting
•Reaction formation – this isn’t stressful, in fact it’s a great
learning experience
These kinds of people are able to reduce the intensity of
disturbed emotional feelings which accompany stressful
situations.

31. Coined by Donald B Lindsley in 1951

32. •Emotion represents a state of
heightened arousal rather than a
psychological, physiological or
biological process.
•Arousal lies on a wide continuum
ranging from a very low level of deep
sleep to extremely agitated states of
rage or anger.
Emotion provoking stimuli
ARAS
cortex musculature

33. • Given in 1966, one of the first ones to use the concept of
cognition. His concept is known as ‘sequential model’.
The steps involved in emotions are
1. Perception of the stimulus
2. Appraisal : stimulus is beneficial or harmful
3. Determining emotions with regards to the
situation
4. Expressing emotions also accompanying
physiological responses
5. Finally they all give an idea to approach a
situation or not.

34. • Given by Richard Solomon and John Corbit.
• Every emotional arousal has an opposite, i.e.
when one type of emotion is elicited there must
be an opposite to suppress or cancel it. In this
way the emotional arousal remains at some
baseline.
• If you are frightened by a mean dog,
Fear
Relief
• If the fear-causing stimulus continues to be present,
after a while
Fear
Relief

35. Emotions are
• Indistinct
• Intermingled
• Constantly changing
Robert Plutchik has proposed a theory in 1970.
Concerned with what are called primary or basic
emotions.
• According to him, the emotions differ in three
ways:
1. Intensity,
2. Similarity,
3. Polarity or oppositeness. He uses these three
dimensions to draw a spatial model.

36. There are eight segments in his model, representing eight
primary emotions.
Within each segment,
•The strongest variety of the emotion is at the top of the
segment with progressively weaker emotions towards the
bottom.
•The similar emotions are adjacent to each other and the
opposite emotions are at the opposite poles.

37. • Lie detectors
• They are also called as polygraphs.
• They make simultaneous records of several
bodily reactions thought to be indicative of
emotional arousal. They measure the changes
in BP, HR, breathing rate, depth of breathing.

38. Classification of disorders of emotion
Abnormalities of basic emotions
■ Intensity of emotions
•diminution - anhedonia
•Exacerbation – mania, ecstasy
■ Duration, time and quality of experience,
including lability of mood, pathological crying and
laughing, parathymia and paramimia
■ Expression of emotion, including blunting and
flattening of affect
■ Appropriateness to object, including phobia
Abnormality of physiological arousal
■ Alexithymia
Abnormalities of evaluation of social context
■ Negative cognitive schemas
■ Prosopoaffective agnosia
■ Receptive vocal dysprosody

40. • None of the theories is a comprehensive theory of
emotion
• The biological structure of an individual
modulated by the environmental experiences, in
one way or the other, must activate the internal
organs and the cerebral cortex for the various
physiological responses and affective experiences
that are experienced by the individual while
going through an emotional behavior.

41. References
1. Introduction to Psychology – Clifford T Morgan
2. Sims Symptoms in Mind – Femi Oyebode
3. Kaplan and Sadocks Synopsis of Psychiatry

42. THANK YOU