EMOTION

 Emotion is made up of three components:  Physiological arousal is a kind of natural excitation that one feels when they are afraid or feel the need to defend themselves.  Expressive behaviors are ways that people react to certain things.  Conscious experience is an action or involvement in which you are aware of.

 One of the oldest theories regarding emotion is that it focuses on the timing of our feelings in relation to the natural responses that accompany emotion.

 William James and Carl Lange proposed that we feel emotion after we notice our physiological responses.

 Walter Cannon and Philip Bard believed that we feel emotion at the same time that our bodies respond.

 The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory is the most recent theory. It focuses on the interaction of the emotions rather than the timing of the emotions. It states that there are only two factors of emotion, physical arousal and a cognitive label.

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System  Emotions are both psychological or emotional and physiological. Much of the physiological activity is controlled by the autonomic nervous system’s arousing and calming divisions. Our performance on a task is usually best when arousal is balanced or calm, though this changes with the difficulty of the task.

Physiological Similarities Among Specific Emotions  Fear, anger, and sexual arousal produce similar physical responses that are almost alike to an untrained observer. However, the emotions are felt differently by those experiencing them.

 Physiological Differences Among Specific Emotions  Emotions stimulate different facial muscles. Additionally, scientists have discovered subtle differences in activity in the brain’s cortical areas, in use of brain pathways, and in secretion of hormones associated with different emotions.

 Cognition and Emotion  Arousal fuels emotion. Cognition channels emotion. Cognition refers to processes such as memory, attention, language, problem solving, and planning. Many cognitive processes are thought to involve sophisticated functions that may be unique to primates.