1. Unit 8: Motivation, Emotion and Stress
CHS AP Psychology
Unit 8: Motivation, Emotion and Stress
Essential Task 8.7: Compare and contrast the major theories of emotion James–Lange Theory, Cognitive Appraisal Theory, Schachter two-factor theory, Cannon–Bard Theory and Opponent Process Theory.
Logo Green is R=8 G=138 B= Blue is R= 0 G=110 B=184
Border Grey is R=74 G=69 B=64

2. Emotion The experience of feelings
A response of the whole organism involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience
Where do emotions come from? Why do we have them? What are they made of?

3. Basic Emotions How many emotions can you name?
Plutchik proposed that there are eight basic emotions
Fear
Surprise
Sadness
Disgust
Anger
Anticipation
Joy
Acceptance

4. Plutchik’s Basic Emotions

5. Basic Emotions
Some have criticized Plutchik’s model as applying only to English-speakers
Devised Primary vs. Secondary Emotions
Be evident in all cultures
Contribute to survival
Distinct facial expression
Evident in Nonhuman primates
Revised model of basic emotions includes:
Happiness
Surprise
Sadness
Fear
Disgust
Anger

7. Theories James-Lange Theory Cannon-Bard Theory
Two-Factor (Schachter-Singer) Theory

8. James-Lange Theory
William James and Carl Lange proposed an idea that was diametrically opposed to the common-sense view. The James-Lange Theory proposes that physiological activity precedes the emotional experience.

9. James-Lange theory Body = emotion
“Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form; pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run... But we should not actually feel afraid.” (William James, 1890)
If there’s no body, no emotion. “Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form; pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run, receive the insult and deem it right to strike, but we should not actually feel afraid or angry.”
Now what James is saying is, the experience of an emotion is the experience of the body. If you don’t have a body, you can’t really have an emotion.
Think about it. Let’s say you have a crush on one of your classmates. Let’s say that Bob here has a crush on Jane [picking out two students who sit very far away from each other]. Now, when Jane walks by Bob, Bob maybe feels a little nervous. His heart starts beating a little faster, he sweats a little, he maybe even blushes, and he looks down at his books because he doesn’t want her SEEING him sweating and blushing and “OMG is she looking over here or not and WHEW I’m nervous...” Now, what if Bob didn’t have this bodily reaction? Can you have a crush on someone without having a bodily reaction when the come near? Would you say that it’s a real crush, if your heart doesn’t start beating a little faster?
James, 1890, v. 2, p. 449 (Gleitman)

10. James-Lange : Testing the Theory
Test #1: Interviewed people with high vs. low spinal cord injuries
High spinal cord injury:
“Sometimes I act angry... But it doesn’t have the heat to it that it used to. It’s a mental kind of anger.”
Test #2: Gave adrenaline shots to people
“I feel as if I’m angry or afraid.”
The idea is that you need your body in order to feel the full emotional experience.
Hohman, 1966, pp (Carlson)
The important aspect of their theory is that it has a testable prediction: the body matters! If you don’t have your body, you can’t have the emotion. Now, is that true?
Well, James and Lange didn’t actually do any experiments to see if their theory was true. It’s a little bit hard to do those experiments, actually. We haven’t really gotten to the point where we can keep live brains in a jar. But there’s some evidence that part of their argument– that the body is essential for experiencing an emotion– is true. In a study done to test their theory, people with spinal cord injuries were interviewed about their emotional experiences. It was found that, basically, the more of your body that was paralyzed, the less intense you said your emotions were. So people with very high spinal cord injuries, meaning that most of their body had no feeling, would say things like this: “Sometimes I act angry... But it doesn’t have the heat to it that it used to. It’s a mental kind of anger.”
This kind of evidence suggests that some feedback from the body is needed for the full experience of an emotion.

11. James-Lange theory Situation  bodily reaction  emotion   FEAR
 
FEAR or
So remember that the James-Lange theory proposes that we SEE something [bug], our body REACTS in a certain way [beating heart], and THAT is what causes the emotion of fear [“fear”]. So not only do we NEED the body, but, basically, ALL we need is the body.
But how can we be sure, if our heart is beating fast, that it’s fear? [“love”]
Or... could it be LOVE?
Ok. I’d like you to think a moment. Could your body fool you into thinking that you feel love for this bug? Why not?
[looking for two answers: 1. “I just know; I wouldn’t look at an insect and think “love”” [mind] or 2. it’s not just a heart beating that makes me feel fear or love, there are other things going on too, different hormones or something [specific body symptoms]
Good; so there’s something going on in the mind... But let’s look at the body hypothesis again. There may be subtle differences in the body that let us know the difference between “fear” and “love.”
LOVE?

12. Cannon-Bard Theory
Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard questioned the James-Lange Theory and proposed that an emotion-triggering stimulus and the body's arousal take place simultaneously.
1) Cannon suggested that body’s responses were not distinct enough to evoke different emotions. 2) Physiological responses seemed too slow to trigger sudden emotions.

13. Cannon-Bard Theory See snake, run and fear simultaneous
Stimulus to thalamus -- sends simultaneous messages to:
Lymbic system (arousal)
Cortex (fear)

14. Also known as the Schachter-Singer Theory Two-Factor Theory
Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed yet another theory which suggests our physiology and cognitions create emotions.
Emotions have two factors–physical arousal and cognitive label.

15. Two-Factor Theory  FEAR  LOVE Situation  bodily reaction emotion
+ cognitive appraisal 
FEAR 
So now we get to the final theory we’ll discuss today; the Schacter theory. In this theory, your thoughts and the body both are needed in order to create an emotion. In this theory, we SEE something [bug], our body REACTS in a certain way [beating heart] AND we think “ewwww! Bug! Lots of legs! Some kind of awful disease! I hate bugs! And my heart is beating really fast! I think it’s time to get out of here!” and those two things TOGETHER are is what causes the emotion of fear [“fear”]. And... Probably not not love.
Now, that’s a pretty complicated picture. So let’s quickly compare each of the three theories again with all these pictures.
LOVE

16. Spill over effect
An arousal response to one event spills over into our response to the next event. Spill over effect
OBJECTIVE 6| Explain how spillover effect influences our experience of emotion.
Arousal from a soccer match can fuel anger, which may lead to rioting.
Arousal fuels emotion, cognition channels it.