Bilangel, Kim Paolo T.

General Psychology TTh 10:30-12:00

1.1James-Lange Theory

Perception of the angry bull → Physiological reactions → Feeling of fear

The perception of emotion-arousing stimuli is followed by specific physiological

reactions such as release of adrenaline and flight reaction. The brain interprets the specific
physiological changes as the emotion, “I’m scared because my heart is racing and I am running
away.”

Another example is imagine sitting in a dark room all by yourself. Suddenly you hear
breathing sound behind you. Your heart rate increases and you may even begin to tremble. You
interpret these physical responses as you are scared and so you experience fear.

 1.2Cannon-Bard Theory
Cannon-Bard Theory declares that the experience of emotion does not merely rely on
bodily inputs and how the body responds to stimuli. Both of these occur at the same time
autonomously. People recognize the emotions and simultaneously undergo physiological
responses such as perspiring, trembling and tensing of muscles. In addition to this, we feel the
emotions and experience the physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle
tension simultaneously.

For example, you are in a dark room all by yourself and suddenly you hear breathing
sound nearby. According to the Cannon-Bard theory, your heart rate increases and you begin to
tremble. While you are experiencing these physical reactions, you also experience the emotion of
fear. The physical reaction and emotion of fear occurs simultaneously.
1.3Schachter-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.

The Schachter-Singer theory suggests that when an event causes physiological arousal, we try to
find a reason for this arousal. Then we experience and label the emotion.

For example, you are sitting in a dark room all by yourself and all of a sudden you hear
breathing sound behind you. Your heart rate increases and you begin to tremble. Upon noticing
these physical reactions, you realize that they come from the fact that you are all alone in a dark
room. You think that you may be in danger, and you feel the emotion of fear.

1.4Schachter-Singer’s Two-Factor Theory

This theory focuses on the role of physiological arousal as a primary factor in emotions.
However, it also suggests that physical arousals alone cannot be responsible for all the emotional
responses. Therefore, it takes into account the cognitive aspect of the emotional reaction.

For example, you are sitting in a dark room all by yourself and all of a sudden you hear
breathing sound behind you. Your heart rate increases and you begin to tremble. You notice the
increased heart rate and realize that it is caused by fear. Therefore, you feel frightened.

The whole process begins with an external stimulus (breathing sound in a dark room),
followed by the physiological arousal (increased heart rate and trembling). The cognitive labels
come into action when we associate the physiological arousals to fear, which is immediately
followed by the conscious experience of the emotion of fear.
2. Sensation and Perception

Based on our discussion I've learned that sensation is about the process of sensing our
environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. In sensation we simply detect
something through our senses, the information we get from our senses our now interpreted by
our brain and the interpretation process in the perception. Perception is also the way we perceive
our environment and what makes us different from other animals and different from each other.

3.Examples
1.Through my sense of sight(sensation) If I saw a dog go near me with furry face and
waggling tails, I interpret it as a happy and jolly dog(perception).
2.Through my sense of hearing(sensation) and I heard a sound of fire trucks, I think that
something might be on fire(perception).
3.Through my sense of feeling (sensation) I felt a sharp sensation underneath my foot,
my brain will signal to move my foot and visualize a nail or tacks(perception.)
4.Through my sense of taste (sensation ) I tasted a bitter food in my mouth my brain
might visualize the food like ampalaya and spill it out.(perception)
5.Through my smell receptors (sensation) I smelled foul odor from the kitchen I might
think that it was a dead rat caught by one of my traps .(perception)