Psychology ,learning ,individual differences, Summaries of Psychology

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Emotions

What is an emotion?

“An emotion is a complex psychological state that involves 3 distinct components:  A subjective experience  A physiological response  A behavioral or expressive response.”

• Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007

Characteristics of emotions

 Accompanied by aroused state in the organism.  Usually accompanied by physiological changes.  A lot of energy is released in every emotion, except grief.

Components of emotion

Subjective feeling Physiological response Behavioral response

 Researchers believe that the experience of emotions can be highly subjective. Our unique experience of the emotions is probably much more multi-dimensional. Consider anger. Is all anger the same? Your own experience might range from mild annoyance to blind rage. Plus, we don’t always experience ‘pure’ forms of emotion. Mixed emotions over different events in our lives are common.

Physiological response

 Many physical reactions we experience during an emotion, which are controlled by sympathetic nervous system, a branch of autonomic nervous system. It controls involuntary body responses such as blood flow and digestion.  The Amygdala is a tiny, almond shaped structure that has been linked to motivational states, as well as memory & emotion.  Researches proved that when people are shown threatening images, the amygdala becomes activated. Damage to amygdala impairs the fear response.

Why we experience emotions?

Theories of emotion

James-lange theory

 This was independently proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange, which suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events.  According to this theory, you see an external stimulus that leads to a physiological reaction. Suppose you see a grizzly bear. You begin to tremble & ur heart begins to race. You will interpret your reactions & conclude that you are frightened.

Cannon-Bard theory

 The theory was given by Walter Cannon & Phillip Bard…  This theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. More specifically, it is suggested that emotions result when the thalamus sends a message to the brain in response to a stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction.