Emotion is a strong feeling influenced by circumstances, mood, and relationships, consisting of physical reactions and conscious experiences. Theories of emotion include the James-Lange theory, which posits that physiological changes precede emotional experience, and the Cannon-Bard theory, which suggests simultaneous emotional and physiological responses. The Schachter-Singer theory adds a cognitive element, requiring both arousal and an interpretation of the arousal for emotion to occur.

2. What is Emotion ?
Emotion can be defined as a strong feeling deriving
from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships
with others.
Emotions have two components:
• Physical reaction (rapid heartbeat, etc.)
• Conscious experience or feeling (sadness, anger,
etc.)

3. Theories of Emotion
Does your heart beat faster because you are afraid… or
are you afraid because you feel your heart beating faster?

4. James - Lange
William James and Carl Lange
To explain the theory,
Lange said that our
common sense tells us
that if a person
encounters a bear, he
feels afraid and then he
runs.
But according to the
theory, seeing a bear
causes the ANS to
stimulate the muscles to
get tensed and the heart
to beat faster. After such
bodily changes, that is
the time that emotion of
fear emerges.

5. Cannon - Bard
According to the Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion,
emotions and bodily changes do not share a
cause-and-effect relationship.
Rather, the theory states that the stimulus
simultaneously triggers physiological responses
and the experience of emotion.
To explain the theory in a simplified way, we could consider an example.
When a person sees a venomous snake, he feels afraid and his muscles get
tensed at the same time, preparing to run away from the dangerous animal.
One can observe the person’s emotion based on the physiological signals that
his body displays.

6. Schacter – Singer ‘s Two Factor Theory
or cognitive label
(causes physiological symptoms)
It is a two-stage theory which states that for an emotion to occur, there
must be (1) a physiological arousal and (2) an explanation for the
arousal.

7. Example