Emotions

Introduction
 The word ‘emotion’ is derived from the
Latin word “Emovere”, which means to be
‘stirred up,’ or ‘to stimulate’. Emotions literally
jerk a person.
 Due to closeness of emotion with feeling, the
quantity of emotion increases with the
increase in feeling and the body gets evoked
or stimulated. This stimulated condition is
known as ‘emotion.’
 What is an emotion?
“An emotion is a complex psychological
state that involves 3 distinct
components:
 A subjective experience
 A physiological response
 A behavioral or expressive response.”

- Hockenbury &
Hockenbury, 2007
 DEFINITIONS
 Each emotion is a feeling, and each is at the
same time, a motor set. – Woodworth.
 Emotion is an acute disturbance of the individual
as a whole, psychological in origin, involving
behavior, conscious experience and viceral
functioning. - P.T. Young (1961)
 The term emotion denotes a state of being
moved, stirred up or aroused in some way.-
Jersild (1960)
 Human emotion involves…. “physiological
arousal, expressive behavior & conscious
experience. - David G. Meyers
 Characteristics of emotions

 Accompanied by aroused state in the

organism.
 Usually accompanied by physiological
changes.
 A lot of energy is released in every
emotion, except grief.
 Components of emotion

Subjective feeling Physiological

response

Behavioral
response
Subjective feeling
 Researchers believe that the experience
of emotions can be highly subjective.
Our unique experience of the emotions
is probably much more multi-
dimensional. Consider anger. Is all
anger the same? Your own experience
might range from mild annoyance to
blind rage. Plus, we don’t always
experience ‘pure’ forms of emotion.
Mixed emotions over different events
in our lives are common.
 Physiological response
 Many physical reactions we experience during an
emotion, which are controlled by sympathetic
nervous system, a branch of autonomic nervous
system. It controls involuntary body responses
such as blood flow and digestion.
 The Amygdala is a tiny, almond shaped
structure that has been linked to motivational
states, as well as memory & emotion.
 Researches proved that when people are shown
threatening images, the amygdala becomes
activated. Damage to amygdala impairs the fear
response.
 Behavioral response
 This is the actual expression of
emotion. We spend a significant
amount of time interpreting the
emotional expressions of people
around. And our ability to accurately
understand these is tied to our
emotional intelligence.
 Many expressions are universal, such as
smile indicates happiness or pleasure.
Why we experience
emotions?
Theories of emotion
 James-lange theory
 This was independently proposed by
psychologist William James and
physiologist Carl Lange, which suggests
that emotions occur as a result of
physiological reactions to events.
 According to this theory, you see an
external stimulus that leads to a
physiological reaction. Suppose you see a
grizzly bear. You begin to tremble & ur
heart begins to race. You will interpret
your reactions & conclude that you are
frightened.
 Cannon-Bard theory
 The theory was given by Walter Cannon
& Phillip Bard…
 This theory states that we feel emotions
and experience physiological reactions
such as sweating, trembling and muscle
tension simultaneously. More specifically,
it is suggested that emotions result
when the thalamus sends a message to
the brain in response to a stimulus,
resulting in a physiological reaction.
 Schachter-Singer theory
 The Schachter-Singer Theory, given
by Stanley Schachter & Jerome E.
Singer., is an example of a cognitive
theory of emotion. This theory suggests
that the physiological arousal occurs
first, and then the individual must
identify the reason behind this arousal
in order to experience and label it as
an emotion.
 ROBERT LAZARUS (1922-2002)
 His theory states that a thought must
come before any emotion or physiological
arousal. In other words, you must first
think about your situation before you can
experience an emotion.
 Example: You are walking down in dark
late at night. You hear footsteps behind
you & u think it may be a stranger so
you begin to tremble, ur heart beats
faster & your breathing deepens and at
the same time u experience fear.
 According to this
theory, emotion is the
experience of changes
in our facial muscles.
In other words, when
we smile, we then
experience pleasure,
or happiness. It is the
changes in our facial
muscles that cue our
brains & provide basis
of our emotions.
BODILY CHANGES IN EMOTIONS

EXTERNAL

INTERNAL
External Internal
changes changes

Facial expressions Heartbeat

Vocal expression Blood pressure

Blood chemistry
Postural expression
Galvanic skin response
(Body Language)
Metabolic changes

Brain waves