Psychology of Emotion

Prof. Dr. Saadoun D. Ahmed/ Consultant Psychiatrist

Plutchik believes emotions are like colors. Every color of the spectrum can be produced
by mixing the primary colors. The eight primary emotions are: fear, surprise, sadness,
disgust, anger, joy, anticipation, and acceptance. Without the bodily states following on the
perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form; pale, colorless, destitute of
emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run... But we should
not actually feel afraid.” (William James, 1890)
Stimulus invokes physiological arousal including movement of facial muscles
Brain interprets facial expression which gives rise to your emotion
 Sequence
 Stimulus (See snake)
 Make a face (fearful)
 Brain reads face
 Emotion (fear)
The components of emotion
Although the terms emotions and feelings are often used interchangeably, a careful
analysis reveals that feelings are only one aspect of emotion. In fact, lower animals clearly
have emotional states, but little or no feeling at all. Human emotions include four integral
components: cognitive processes, affect or subjective feelings, physiological arousal, and
behavioral responses. Emotions an individual’s subjective feelings and moods. The term
applies to both physiological and behavioral responses to specific stimulus situations.
1. Cognitive Processes
One component of emotions is cognitive processes. Although psychologists differ in the
extent to which they emphasize the role of cognition in emotional arousal and expression,
there is a general consensus that perception, learning, and memory are all very much
involved in experiencing emotions. Listening to music, or even just thinking about a
favorite song, often elicits conditioned or learned emotions.
2. Affect
All emotions also include an affective component involving both a general positive or
negative state such as joy, anger, fear, or disgust. When psychologists attempt to ascertain
a person’s emotional state, they typically ask the individual to describe the emotions he or
she is experiencing. Most people respond by describing their feelings “I am depressed”; “I
am extremely happy”; “I feel nervous and apprehensive.” Thus, for most individuals, these
subjective feelings constitute emotion even though they are only one aspect of them. Often
these feelings can be described on a 1–10 Likert scale. Such as my anger is at a 9 today. Or
I feel a 10 in terms of joy. These subjective numbers are often asked in order to chart
affective changes that a person might feel after counseling.
3. Physiological Arousal
A third component of emotions is physiological arousal. When someone describes their
anger by saying “the juices were flowing,” this account is close to the mark. The “juices,”
in the form of epinephrine and other hormones associated with the arousal of anger,
probably were flowing. As a result of this increased endocrine activity, we might guess that
for a few moments at least heart rate increased dramatically, blood pressure probably
increased significantly, and breathing may have become rapid and uneven. Indeed,
emotions are associated with mild to extreme changes in the physiological processes
occurring within our bodies. In addition to the changes we just listed, these processes may
include metabolic changes, altered muscle tension, changes in activity of the salivary and
sweat glands, modified digestive processes, and changes in the levels of certain
neurotransmitters in the brain. (Recall that the autonomic nervous system is involved in
most of the physiological changes associated with emotional arousal.) In other species

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 Psychology of Emotion
Prof. Dr. Saadoun D. Ahmed/ Consultant Psychiatrist

these physiological processes can lead to changes in coloration, facial expression,

piloerection, and other signs of emotion.
4. Behavioral Responses
Finally, emotion also includes behavioral response. Emotions often motivate us to act out
or express our feelings. These expressions may range from crying, screaming, or verbal
outbursts to smiling or laughing. Tone of voice, posture, and other kinds of body language
are all common signals of emotion. In addition to being expressive, behavioral reactions to
emotions may also serve to either promote or reduce the emotion. For example, avoiding a
situation that produces fear or going out of your way to meet a special person are examples
of behavior maintained by a change in emotion.
Theories of emotion
We have learned that emotional expression is a complex process involving cognitions,
subjective feelings, physiological arousal, and behavioral reactions. How do these
processes interact to produce an emotional response? What is the usual sequence of
events? Is it necessary to think before we feel, or do we feel an emotion and then later
interpret it as fear or happiness? Psychologists have proposed contradictory answers to
these questions, in a controversy that sometimes resembles the well-known debate about
whether the chicken or the egg came first. We examine the evidence here as we review
several historical perspectives as well as several contemporary theories of emotion.
Historical Perspectives
The james-lange theory Imagine that after having trouble sleeping, you decide to take a
midnight walk. It is dark and still; no one else is in sight. Suddenly, you hear a rustling in
the bushes behind you, followed by rapidly approaching footsteps. Your response will
probably be one of terror: You are likely to run for your life. What would activate your fear
in this situation? Is it triggered by the sounds you hear, which in turn induce you to run? Or
is it more likely that your awareness of danger causes your heart to beat faster and your
legs to carry you away, and that these physical responses trigger your emotional response
of fear? Decide which of these interpretations seems correct, and why, before reading on.
When such questions are put to students, the vast majority answer that hearing noises in the
dark causes fear, which in turn triggers a flood of physical reactions. This “commonsense”
interpretation of the activation of emotion seems quite logical.
The “Commonsense” View of Emotion. We perceive and interpret a particular stimulus,
and these cognitive processes give rise to an emotion that triggers certain physiological
reactions and body movements. “I see a bear, feel fear, experience a flood of physiological
reactions, and run because I am afraid.” We perceive and interpret a particular stimulus, in
this case threatening noises, and these cognitive processes give rise to an emotion (fear),
which triggers certain physiological responses and body movements. Along these lines, we
would also conclude that we cry because we feel sad, rather than becoming sad because we
cry, and that we laugh because we are happy, rather than being happy because we laugh.
Eliciting stimulus (sight of bear) →Subjective experience of emotion (terrified) →
Instrumental response (run) Physiological arousal and muscular reactions (heart pounds,
muscles tighten, etc.).
However, the American psychologist William James (1884), and the Danish physiologist
Carl Lange (1885), writing independently of each other, both questioned this common-
sense view. Their interpretation, referred to as the James-Lange theory, suggests that
environmental stimuli trigger physiological responses from viscera (the internal organs
such as the heart and lungs). For instance, heart rate and respiration both increase. At the
same time, the body may also respond with muscle movements, as when we jump at an
unexpected noise. These visceral and muscular responses then activate emotional states.

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 Psychology of Emotion
Prof. Dr. Saadoun D. Ahmed/ Consultant Psychiatrist

Thus James and Lange would argue that your fear stems from your awareness of specific
bodily responses that you associate with fear—a pounding heart, rapid breathing, running
legs, and so forth—rather than from your cognitions about noises in the [Link] james-
lange theory. Environmental stimuli triggers physiological responses and bodily
movements, and emotion occurs when the individual interprets his or her visceral and
muscular responses. “I must be afraid because my heart is pounding and I am running like
crazy.”
Eliciting stimulus (sight of bear) → Instrumental response (run) Physiological arousal and
muscular reactions (heart pounds, muscles tighten, etc.) → Subjects experience of emotion
(terrified) based on interpretation of bodily reactions
The cannon-bard theory
Cannon argued that autonomic and muscular changes are not the cause of emotion. Instead,
emotional experiences and physical changes occur simultaneously. This viewpoint, as
modified by Philip Bard
(1934), is known as the Cannon-Bard theory. Cannon and Bard theorized that the thalamus
plays a key role in our emotional responses. It not only channels sensory input to the
cerebral cortex, where it is interpreted, but at the same time it sends activation messages
through the peripheral nervous system to the viscera and skeletal muscles. These activation
messages trigger the physiological and behavioral responses that typically accompany
emotions. Cannon and Bard would explain your emotional response to being approached in
the dark in the following manner. The sensory input of the sounds you heard in the dark
was relayed simultaneously to your cerebral cortex and your internal organs and muscles.
This activity allowed you to perceive fear at the same time that your internal organs and
muscles were reacting to the stimulus. Cannon and Bard would contend that when you feel
fear the emotion occurs at the same time as your pounding heart, rapid breathing, and flight
from the source of the noise. More recent research has revealed that the hypothalamus,
amygdala, and certain other structures in the limbic system are the brain centers most
directly involved in integrating emotional responses—not the thalamus. However, the
Cannon-Bard theory should be credited with pointing out the important role of central
brain processes in our emotional responses.
Contemporary Theories
A more recent theory, known as the Schachter-Singer theory, presents an interesting
assessment of the role of appraisal or judgment (cognitions) in our ability to correctly
identify a variety of emotions from very few distinct physiological states. In the early
1960s, Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer (1962) developed the Schachter-Singer theory
of emotions, which combined elements from both the James-Lange and the Cannon-Bard
theories. Schachter and Singer believed that emotion follows behavioral and physiological
reactions, as suggested by James and Lange, but they also agreed with Cannon and Bard
that cognitive processes are central to emotional experience. Instead of viewing emotion
as a joint effect of both physical reactions and cognitive appraisal, Schachter and Singer
maintained that emotions depend on a kind of double cognitive interpretation: We appraise
the emotion-causing event while also evaluating what is happening with our bodies. The
key process in emotional arousal is how we interpret feedback from our bodies in light of
our present situation. For example, suppose you have just run several blocks across campus
to avoid being late to a class. You probably note that you are panting and sweating and that
your heart is pounding, but you are unlikely to experience an emotional response to these
heightened physical reactions. If you experience these same physical responses under
different circumstances, however—for example, while running across a farmer’s field to
escape an enraged bull—you would probably interpret your arousal as fear. The Schachter-

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 Psychology of Emotion
Prof. Dr. Saadoun D. Ahmed/ Consultant Psychiatrist

Singer theory has directed the attention of psychologists to the important role of cognitive
interpretation in emotional experience. The Schachter-Singer Theory. Emotions depend
upon a kind of double cognitive interpretation: We appraise the emotion-causing event
while also evaluating what is happening with our bodies. “I am afraid because I know
bears are dangerous and because my heart is pounding.”
Facial feedback theory
Theory that specific facial displays are universally associated with the expression of the
emotions of fear, anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, interest, disgust, and shame. A
number of researchers have argued that facial muscles respond very rapidly and with
sufficient differentiation to account for a wide range of emotional experience; some have
theorized that feedback from our own facial expressions determines our emotional
experiences. Perhaps the most influential proponent of this facial feedback theory is Sylvan
Tomkins (1962, 1963). Like James and Lange, Tomkins argues that different kinds of
physical actions precede different brain mechanisms linked to the emotions of fear, anger,
happiness, sadness, surprise, interest, disgust, and shame. Tomkins also argues that a
specific facial display is universally associated with each of these neutral programs.
Emotion, according to Tomkins, is independent of cognition and is part of one’s genetic
endowment.
Neuroscience of Emotion
Biological Mechanisms at work behind our emotions:
1) Limbic System
2) Reticular Formation
3) Cerebral Cortex
4) Autonomic Nervous System
5) Hormones
The Amygdala is a neural key to fear learning, Like a guard dog, it is continuously alert for
threats.
Reticular Formation Located in the brain stem, works with the thalamus & amygdala to
monitor incoming info. If threat is detected, the RF sets off automatic responses:
*arouse brain
*heart accelerate
*respiration increase
*mouth dry
*muscles tense
Cerebral Cortex
Function:
Determines Intelligence, Determines Personality, Interpretation of Sensory Impulses,
Motor Function, Planning and Organization, Touch/Sensation
In general:
*right hemisphere specializes in negative emotions
*left hemisphere specializes in positive emotions
Hormones
Important Hormones in Emotion:
1. Serotonin: Depression 4. Steroids (cortisol): Act on nerve cells causing rage
2. Epinephrine: Fear or depression (also mood changes associated with
3. Norepinephrine: Anger pregnancy and PMS may be related to steroids.)

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