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Stanley Schachter: Co-developer of two factor theory of emotion

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Biography

The American social psychologist in the field of emotions, Stanley Schachter, was born on 15

April 1922. He was born at Flushing in the state of New York. Schachter studied art history

at Yale University as a young man. He graduated from Yale with a bachelor's degree in 1942

and went on to Yale for his master's degree in psychology, where he was influenced by Clark

Hull. Schachter enlisted in the United States Armed Forces after receiving his Master's

degree in 1944, and served until 1946. Schachter earned the rank of sergeant during his two

years in the Armed Forces. He studied the optical challenges that pilots have in flight at the

Biophysics Division of Wright Field's Aero-Medical Laboratory in Riverside, Ohio. In 1949,

the new doctor of psychology landed a job at the University of Minnesota's Laboratory for

Research in Social Relations thanks to his strong dissertation. Schachter began his career as

an assistant professor and quickly rose through the ranks of professorship, becoming an

associate professor in 1954 and then a full professor in 1958, thanks in part to his substantial

research and writing. He died on 7 June 1997.

Reason behind choosing Stanley Schachter

The reason behind choosing Stanley Schachter is his valuable contributions to the field of

emotions. He is best known for co-developing the two-factor theory of emotion with Jerome

E. Singer in 1962. According to his hypothesis, emotions are made up of two components:

physiological arousal and a cognitive label. Schachter was named the sixth most cited

psychologist of the twentieth century in a study published in 2002 by the Review of General

Psychology. So he is a personality worth exploring from the field of social psychology.

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Historical Significance

The Schachter–Singer two-factor theory of emotion is typically hailed as a watershed

moment in the evolution of emotional theories. The James-Lange theory and the Cannon-

Bard theory were two of the most popular theories of emotion prior to the establishment of

Schachter and Singer's two-factor theory. The Schachter-Singer and James-Lange theories

both claim that physiological responses are an important aspect of our emotional experience.

The Schachter-Singer theory, unlike the James-Lange theory and the Cannon-Bard theory,

claims that distinct emotions can have comparable physiological reactions. Schachter was one

of the few social psychologists elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and some

consider him the father of health psychology, which applies psychological concepts to the

treatment of physical illness and medical difficulties.

About the field (Emotions)

Emotions are a crucial part of the human experience. They infiltrate our social and

professional lives, affect our relationships and social interactions, and impact our thinking

and behaviour. Emotions have traditionally been thought of and studied as essentially

personal experiences, with study focused on cognitive and expressive aspects as well as

physiological and neurological mechanisms that underpin emotional reactions. Emotion

research frequently defies typical academic boundaries and binary linguistics. To

comprehend its complexity, multimodal viewpoints and the suspension of dualistic

conventions are required.

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Critical Reflection

The relationship between bodily arousal and how we cognitively categorise that arousal is the

focus of the two-factor theory of emotion. To put it another way, simply feeling arousal is

insufficient; we must also recognise the arousal in order to feel the emotion. In the realm of

psychology, the two-factor theory of emotion is a relatively new concept. In 1962, it was

initially introduced. Not all of the initial research by Schachter and Singer have yielded the

same results. While there may be more to learn about the mental and physical processes that

go into recognising emotions. The experimental method seems to be suitable for the

respective study. The study was done in such a way that the subjects were injected with

certain drugs and some of them were informed about the side effects and some of them were

not. On this note, responses were recorded.

References

(Boyd, n.d.)

(Cherry, 2019)

Wikipedia