Theories of Emotion

Joy

• A positive emotion indicating pleasure and satisfaction.
• In literary terms, it means 'to feel glad' or 'to feel delightful'.
• Used synonymously with happiness, but happiness is fleeting, while joy has a lasting effect.
• Generally triggered by a pleasant observation or remembrance.
• Originates from the satisfaction of accomplishing a certain expectation or need.
• Usually expressed through a smile, laughter, and a generalized feeling of life satisfaction.

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion

• Psychologist Robert Plutchik devised a wheel of emotion.
• Designed to help people understand nuances of emotion.
• Aims to differentiate between emotions.
• Identifies eight basic primary emotions.
• These emotions can be reduced to four pairs of opposites.
• The pairs consist of joy versus sadness, trust versus disgust, fear versus anger, and anticipation versus surprise.
• Intensity increases towards the center of the wheel and decreases outward.
• As one moves from the periphery towards the center, apprehension becomes fear and then terror.
• Serenity becomes joy and then ecstasy.
• Secondary emotions are combinations of the primary ones.

Theories of Emotion

• Psychologists have probed different aspects of emotion.
• Generated varied experiments and research works.
• Resulted in propounding of various theories.
• These theories were established on the basis of interrelationship among four aspects:
• Stimulus causing the emotion.
• Experience or feeling of emotion.
• Physiological reactions or changes due to heightened state of arousal.
• Related behaviors or overt expressions of the emotions.
• Emotion theories differ in the order of the four aspects and their sequence.
• Three distinguishable and important theories are discussed in the following section.

James-Lange Theory

• American psychologist William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange independently proposed this theory almost at the same time.
• The two theories were combined and termed as James-Lange theory.
• Emotions follow physiological reactions to external events.
• James's research focused on emotion as a consequence of physiological reactions.
  • Lange's theory emphasized emotion as the demonstration of a physiological change.
• Physiological responses and their interpretation lead to emotional experiences.
• The theory negates common sense that perception of an emotion-provoking situation results in emotion; instead certain changes in the physiological mechanisms is then expressed through behaviors.
• James-Lange theory concludes an opposite notion to this common view.
• First the physiological arousal occurs in response to the situation, which in turn produces the emotion.
• The sequence of emotional experiences has three steps:
• Individual perceives the emotion-provoking situation or event.
• Individual has physiological changes in response to the situation or event.
• Individual identifies or recognizes the emotions.
• "We feel sorry because we cry; angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble".
• There is no feeling or mental activity right after sensing certain emotion-provoking situation.
• Physical reactions occur prior to the emotional experience.

Criticism of James-Lange Theory

• American biologist Walter Canon criticized this theory strongly based on the following:
• Organisms feel emotions without physiological arousal.
• Physiological reactions with some emotions are same, so it is difficult to label the emotion based on the reactions.
• Emotional experiences occur instantaneously while the physiological reactions take place in the internal organs.
• Artificial physiological stimulation produce a sensation of arousal but cannot evoke emotion.
• Physiological reactions and experience of emotion cannot be separated from each other as they occur almost simultaneously .

Cannon-Bard Theory

• American physiologist Walter Cannon proposed an alternative theory of emotion, revised later by Philip Bard.
• States that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions (sweating, trembling, muscle tension) simultaneously.
• Emotional experience and physiological arousal occur simultaneously. * Not one following the other. Cannon emphasized parts of lower brain, specifically thalamus.
• Emotion-inducing stimulus goes to the thalamus, where one set of information goes to the cerebral cortex.
• Information gets processed
• Appropriate emotion is perceived.
• Another set of information transmitted to the hypothalamus and autonomic nervous system; produces physiological and bodily behaviors.
• Feeling of emotion and the physiological reactions are therefore independent of each other and both activated or triggered simultaneously.
• Emotion-provoking situations along with the bodily reactions independently create the subjective experiences.
• Theorized that emotions could be experienced even when the body does not reveal a physiological reaction.
• Physiological reactions to different emotions can be extremely similar, and people experience different emotions to similar responses like sweating, heart racing, panting..

Downsides to Cannon-Bard Theory

• Cannon stressed only the activities of the thalamus and hypothalamus. However, there are other parts of the brain which play important roles in producing emotions like frontal lobe and limbic system.
• The emotional experiences occur mechanically - does not account for prior experiences.
• Experiments were based on animals -may not generalise to human experiences.
• Because a stimulus can be perceived differently, the theory can be very subjective and the theory lacks external validity.

Schachter-Singer Theory

• Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed a more comprehensive theory of emotion.
• It laid emphasis on the interpretation of the stimulus which in turn causes the physical arousal.
• Interpretation is based on the bodily reactions, which is the basis of emotion.
• Bodily reactions to any potential emotion-provoking stimulus in the environment are somewhat vague and ambiguous.
• Without the bodily reactions, emotional recognition is impossible
• Sometimes referred to as cognitive theory.

Steps in Cognitive Theory

• Individual perceives the emotion-provoking situation or event.
• Generalized physical arousal or bodily reactions occur, which are indistinct and vague in nature.
• Interpretation and explanation of the emotion-provoking stimulus.
• Links physical arousal, cognitive interpretation, and the arousal to an external stimulus.
• Cognitive interpretation of the stimulus can vary among persons due to difference in their cognition.

Demonstrating Emotional Arousal

• Individuals injected with hormone - adrenalin, which produces increased heart rate and trembling.
• All participants told they were being injected with a new drug.
• Two Groups: informed patients and misinformed patients.
• Patients then placed with “stooge” acting in ways that would evoke feelings of happiness or anger.
• Informed patients: reported feeling less intensity because they knew the reason for bodily arousal.
• Schachter and Singer found that someone experiencing physical arousal with no immediate explanation will interpret their emotions in terms of the cognitive interpretation of the cues available to them at the time.

Criticisms of Schachter-Singer Theory

• There are modern studies showing that individuals experience emotion without cognitive thought.
• Theory considers that individuals are unaware of their own emotional experience until they can explain it, which is not considered acceptable.
• The environmental reasons for emotion were over emphasized.
• An unexplained physical arousal was more likely to generate negative emotions regardless.

Parallels Between Emotion and Motivation

• Closely related, and trigger similar physiological changes and behavioral reactions.
• Motives are always accompanied by emotion.
• Emotional experiences and related expressions are strongly influenced by motivation.
• Emotional conducts are actually the motivated behaviors; motivated behaviors cannot be evoked and experienced.

Motivation Defined

• Refers to a mental process that activates and propels an individual to act or behave in a specific way to reach a goal.
• It plays a vital role in human life by activating thinking process, feelings and consequent behavior
• Involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior.
• In everyday language, it’s frequently used to describe why a person does something.
• Requires tenacity to overcome all impediments that come with achieving desired objective.

The Three Major Components of Motivation

• Activation: The initial urge and decision to initiate a behaviour.
• Persistence: The spontaneous effort to pursue a goal and also overcome obstacles.
• Intensity: The degree of energy, effort and vigour in pursuing a goal.

Factors to Consider

• It guides, regulates, and activates an individual's actions to obtain what he/she desires.

Forces Behind Motivation

• Forces dictate that driving an individual to act in a target way by giving them a “desire”
• Motivations stem from: needs, drives and instincts.

Common and Physiological Needs

• Love, categorization, safety

How to Act in a Specific Way

• Caused due to the needs or desires of the world.
• Needs must be satisfied to sustain life.
• Regulate and guide behavior that is directed toward satisfaction

Common Hunger Drive:

• Contraction of stomach and fall of blood sugar level to trigger the organism's drive for food via functions in Hypothalamus
• Stimulated by external stimuli.
• Tendency to feel some drive toward ice cream or our favourites

Thirst Drive

• Dryness of mouth and throat.
• Can also be sparked by psychological elements.

Fatigue and Drive for Sleep

• Occuring when body muscles can't function (caused by rigorous activity.)

Sexual Drive

• Driven by hormones from pituitary gland - regulated in males by testosterone and in females estrogen.

Instinct Defined

• Innate tendency of an organism to react immediately to an external stimuli.
• Instincts aren't learned, but are genetically programmed and similar among certain species - helps to generate action tendencies

Theorist Point of View

• William James, noted that behaviors are guided by instincts
• Sigmund Frued: two main elements of instincts drive our libido (life instincts) and thanatos (death instincts).

Intrinsic Motivation Defined

• Based on things that people consider pleasurable.
• Come from internal drive of satisfaction.
• Often rooted from things that you find joy in.
• Generate a sense of meaning and progress and help facilitate change in the world, as well.

Factors of Intrinsic Motivation

• Control and perceived external factors.

Theorist Point of View

• Push-Pull Theory, push and pull theories state that motivation comes from either wanting to avoid internal drives, demands and needs OR performing the behaviors for the external rewards.
• Also known and Push Theory or incentive theory.

Optimal Arousal Theory

• Motiviation is suggested from doing a specific act to maintain what individuals perceive as correct (stimulates alertness)

Theorists Point of View

• Robert Yerkes, John Dillingham Dodson’s theory stated that motivation is maintained to achieve homeostasis.
• It's the belief that better is better than never (expectancy)
• Expectancy from instrumentality

Social/Unique Traits

• Motivations are learned from the community/social circle that you'r in. Achievment happens!
• Achievement stems from social learning through positive interactions.
• Power.
• Aggression (tendency to harm, by acts) can be a prime emotion or a form of social expression

Catharis

• Process of releasing emotions by means of action or impulse; can help minimize aggression!

Frustration

• Leads to blocked goals or motivation.

Response to Frustration

• Individuals defend against this by expressing anger.

Conflict

• Arises from interfering goals.
• four types of conflicts that are very common.
• Approach-approach.
• Avoidance-avoidance.
• Approach-avoidance.
• Multiple approach - avoidance.

Explore Plutchik's wheel of emotion, contrasting emotions like joy and sadness. Understand the James-Lange theory and the interconnected elements of emotional study. Learn about the prime aspects considered in emotion theories.