The main theories of emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience that we experience as a result of our interactions with the environment.. In this article we are going to see the main theories of emotion, that is, the different ways that psychology has to explain this experience.

From the point of view of psychology, emotion is a complex state of feelings that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thinking and behavior. Emotionality is associated with a variety of psychological phenomena including temperament, personality, mood, and motivation.

According to David G. Meyers, professor of psychology at Hope College in Michigan, United States, and author of almost twenty books, human emotion involves “… physiological arousal, expressive behaviors and conscious experience.”

There are positive emotions and negative emotions. These emotions can be related to an object, a memory, a forecast, etc. Some emotions would have innate pre-programming and be universal, such as love, care, joy, surprise, anger and fear. These are known as primary emotions. Secondary emotions are those we learn through our experience, such as pride, shame, negligence, sympathy, and horror.

Next we will take a tour of the theories of emotion to understand the evolution of this type of experiences. Let’s dig deeper.

Theories of emotion

Emotions exert a very powerful force on behavior. But why do we have emotions? What causes us to have these feelings? Researchers, philosophers and psychologists have proposed different theories of emotion to explain the how and why of its existence.

The main theories of emotion can be grouped into three categories:

The physiological theories suggest that responses within the body are responsible for emotions. neurological theories argue that activity within the brain leads to emotional responses. cognitive theories maintains that thoughts and other mental activities play an essential role in the formation of emotions.

Evolutionary theory of emotion

The evolutionary approach focuses on the historical environment in which emotions developed. According to the evolutionary theory of emotion, our emotions exist because they improve our adaptation. Thus, for example, they motivate us to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps improve our chances of success and survival.

It was Charles Darwin who proposed that Emotions have survived evolution because they are adaptive and allow humans and animals to survive and reproduce. Feelings of love and affection lead people to look for a partner and reproduce. Feelings of fear force people to fight or flee from the source of danger.

Identifying and understanding the emotions of others also plays a crucial role in safety and survival. By being able to correctly interpret the emotional manifestations of other people we can, for example, respond sooner and better to danger.

The James-Lange theory of emotion

The James-Lange theory of emotion was proposed independently by William James and Carl Lange. This suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events.

So, As we experience different events, our nervous system develops physical reactions to these events. The emotional reaction would depend on how those physical reactions were interpreted. Examples of these reactions include an increase in heart rate, tremors, upset stomach, etc. These physical reactions, in turn, generate other emotional reactions, such as anger, fear, and sadness.

Imagine that you are walking through the forest and you see a poisonous snake. You start to shake and your heartbeat speeds up. This theory proposes that you will conclude that you are scared (“I am shaking, therefore I am afraid”). According to her, you are not shaking because you are scared, but rather, you feel scared because you are shaking.

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion was developed by physiologists Walter Cannon and Philip Bard. Walter Cannon disagreed with James-Lange’s theory of emotion in several respects.

Cannon suggested that people can experience physiological reactions linked to emotions without actually feeling those emotions. For example, your heart may increase its rate because you have been exercising, not because you are afraid.

He also argued that emotional responses occur too quickly to be simply products of physical states or reactions. For example, when you encounter a danger, you will often feel fear before you begin to experience the physical symptoms associated with it, such as increased heart and breathing rates.

Cannon first proposed his theory in the 1920s and his work was later expanded by physiologist Philip Bard during the 1930s. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, We feel the emotions and experience the physiological reactions such as sweating, shaking and muscle tension simultaneously.

More specifically, The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion indicates that emotions occur when the thalamus sends a message to the brain in response to a stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction. At the same time, the brain also receives signals that activate emotional experience. Cannon and Bard’s theory says that the physical and psychological experience of emotion occurs at the same time and that one does not cause the other.

Schachter-Singer theory

The Schachter-Singer theory of emotion was developed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer. According to this theory, The element of reasoning plays an important role in how we experience emotions. This theory is an example of a cognitive theory of emotion, and holds that physiological arousal occurs first and then the individual must identify the reason for this arousal to experience it and label it as an emotion.

Schachter and Singer’s theory is based on both the James-Lange theory and the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion. Like the James-Lange theory, The Schachter-Singer theory states that people infer emotions based on physiological responses. The critical factor would be the situation and the interpretation that people make of those responses.

The Schachter-Singer theory states that when an event causes physiological arousal, we try to find a reason for this arousal.. We then experience and label the emotion. Like the Cannon-Bard theory, the Schachter-Singer theory also considers that similar physiological responses can produce different emotions.

Cognitive evaluation theory

According to emotion appraisal theories, thinking must occur first before experiencing the emotion.. Richard Lazarus was a pioneer in this area of ​​emotion. That is why this theory is often known as the Lazarus theory of emotion. This theory states that the brain first evaluates a situation and the resulting response is an emotion.

According to this theory, The sequence of events involves first a stimulus, followed by thought which then leads to the simultaneous experience of a physiological response and emotion. For example, if you encounter a bear in the woods, you may immediately begin to think that you are in great danger. This leads to the emotional experience of fear and the physical reactions associated with the fight or flight response.

Facial feedback theory of emotion

Facial feedback theory states that facial movement can influence emotional experience. Supporters of this theory suggest that emotions are directly related to changes in facial muscles.

For example, a person could improve their mood by smiling. Just as you could make it worse by frowning. That is, the most surprising corollary of this theory is that it tells us that we could generate emotions by voluntarily drawing some of its most characteristic expressions on our face.

Charles Darwin was one of the first to suggest that the physiological changes caused by an emotion had a direct impact rather than just being the consequence of that emotion. Continuing with this idea, William James proposed that, contrary to common belief, awareness of bodily changes activated by a stimulus is emotion. Thus, if no bodily changes are felt, there would only be an intellectual thought, devoid of emotional warmth.

The theory of constructed emotion

This revolutionary theory by Barret (2018) maintains that emotions are not born, but rather created, that is, constructed. According to this psychologist, emotions, which are felt automatically, are not universal nor are they stored in certain brain regions. On the contrary, they change from one culture to another and result from dynamic neural networks.

These networks are responsible for carrying out simulations, making predictions and correcting them according to the stimuli coming from the environment. Thus, emotions appear as a mixture of the physical properties of a flexible brain that establishes connections in any environment.

With this theory Lisa Feldman replaces the classical conception of emotion with the theory of constructed emotion. For her, the external stimulus from the environment that causes an emotion, for example, sadness, does not activate a brain circuit corresponding to said emotion, causing a set of bodily changes. Rather, people feel sadness at that moment because, having been raised in a particular culture, they learned that sadness can occur when certain sensations coincide with a terrible loss.

By appealing to past experiences, the brain quickly predicts what the body should do to deal with that tragedy. This prediction consequently causes an increase in heart rate, a “knot” in the stomach, and other sensations, which result in a typical case of sadness.

Emotions and well-being

To conclude, we want to highlight a theory about emotions that has become very popular in recent years. This is the theory of emotional intelligence, popularized by psychologist Daniel Goleman; who was based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences.

Although this theoretical proposal does not focus on the origin and nature of emotions, it is of great importance to know it, since highlights the fundamental role that emotional regulation plays in achieving general well-being.

In this sense, emotional intelligence is conceived…