Theories of Emotion

Emotion results from physiological arousal plus a cognitive label.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

An emotion-arousing stimulus has two simultaneous effects, causing both bodily arousal via the sumpathetic nervous system and the subjective experience of emotion via the cortex.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

Feedback from the body produces feelings or emotions

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Le’Doux’s Dual Pathway Model

After seeing a deer jump out of the ditch and in front of your car, you experience conscious fear, and then your heart starts to beat faster.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

If told that marijuana use produces feelings of hunger, new users report feeling hungry; if told the drug is a downer, new users often interpret their bodily sensations as depressed.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

We feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, and afraid because we tremble.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

The more personally important the outcome, the more intense the emotion.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

We don't smile because we are happy but rather we fell happy because we smile

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

• Facial Feedback Hypothesis

• Le’Doux’s Dual Pathway Model

After seeing a bear in the woods, you become frightened, and then start running.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory

Perceiving a stimulus causes autonomic arousal and other bodily actions that lead to the experience of a specfic emotion.

• Common Sense Viewpoint

• James-Lange Theory

• Cannon-Bard Theory

• Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory

• Cognitive-mediational Theory