All the most famous theories of emotions in psychology consider emotional states together with the physiological processes that occur in the body. They not only accompany them, but also explain why these emotions arise. Researchers associate physiological changes in the body with emotional expressions and prove that different emotions are characterized by a certain set of signs. In order to classify or determine the parameters of emotional states, you will need to turn to the corresponding physiological processes.
With the help of emotions, a person can directly influence his interlocutors and others. They are accompanied by facial expressions, pantomimes and gestures that reflect his internal state and are quite understandable to other people.
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James-Lange theory
This theory of emotions was put forward almost simultaneously in the 1920s by two scientists: the Danish physiologist Carl Lange and the American psychologist William James. According to the theory, emotions are the result of a physiological reaction to a significant event. The James-Lange theory can be broken down into the following sequence:
When exposed to an external stimulus, a certain physiological reaction is activated, on its basis an emotion or emotional reaction arises, entirely dependent on the interpretation of the physiological reaction. For example, when you encounter a lion, your heart will most likely begin to race and your body to tremble. According to the James-Lange theory, the mind then interprets the physical reaction and comes to the conclusion that you are afraid.
It must be said that a number of convincing arguments were subsequently put forward to refute the James-Lange theory, and in the modern scientific world it has few supporters. And yet, psychologists today consider it very valuable and even give examples to confirm its correctness, for example, the mechanism of development of a phobia or panic disorder. For example, if a person has a negative physiological reaction to some event, for example nausea, it may well degenerate into an emotional reaction, in particular into a feeling of anxiety, and a clear association will arise between these two states. Subsequently, this individual will most likely try to avoid any situations that could lead to a negative emotion.
What are emotions and what do they look like?
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Translated from Latin - the emotion “shocks, excites.” Emotions can be compared to a palette of colors. Without emotions, life will be dull. It's like living in twilight. Some people say: “I don’t want to feel emotions anymore! I want to be emotionless." Thus, the mistaken belief is that if they stop experiencing emotions, their life will become better, easier.
In fact, there are people who do not experience emotions. Emotional disturbances may be associated with autism, psychopathy, or alexithymia, a term that refers to difficulty verbalizing one's condition.
Emotions! They can also be compared to seasoning. Without them, life will become bland. And as proof, we can give the following example: the emotional-sensory sphere contains bodily sensations. When we see a loved one, we feel butterflies in our stomach, or when we feel angry, we may feel a stomach cramp.
Our brain assigns a certain value to each sensation. This is how you and I understand whether it is positive or negative, weak or pronounced.
Theories of emotions by Anokhin, Simonov and Festinger.
There is no need to run away or close yourself off from emotions. It is important to understand them. In terms of emotions, there is no axiom. But there are authoritative theories. This article will talk about them. They will open the curtain for you into the world of emotions.
Cannon-Bard theory of emotions
In the 1930s, Walter Cannon and Philip Bard developed their theory as an argument against the James-Lange theory described above. According to psychologists, physiological reactions and emotions occur simultaneously. An emotion occurs when the thalamus, an area of the brain that controls motor function, sleep-wake states, and sensory processing, reacts to a specific stimulus and sends a specific message to the brain, resulting in a physiological response.
The mechanism of emotion is shown in the figure below.
The sense organs are affected by a certain initial stimulus. Next, it is transmitted to the cerebral cortex, where an analysis occurs of how this reaction will be directed, which, in turn, activates the thalamus - that is, the stimulus is perceived and interpreted. After this, two reactions occur simultaneously: emotional and physiological. In other words, when you meet a lion, you will feel a strong heartbeat and trembling at the same time as strong fear.
Cognitive dissonance theory
L. Festinger proposed this theory based on studying a person’s perception of his expectations and reality, as well as how they relate to each other. He argued that if a person’s expectations are fully realized, the individual remains satisfied and then positive emotions arise. If reality does not meet his expectations, an uncomfortable state and negative emotions arise. In this case, a person begins to look for another way out, and there are two possible options. Either a person changes the cognitive aspect of the current situation, that is, he changes his expectations and attitude towards reality so that the negative emotion is leveled, or he looks for a way to change the undesirable result that he observes in reality and does not agree with.
Schechter-Singer theory of emotions
The Schechter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion was developed in 1952 by Jerome Singer and Stanley Schechter. She provides an example of a cognitive approach to emotions. According to this theory, at the first stage of emotion formation, physiological activation (arousal) occurs in response to an experienced event. A person needs to find the reason for this activation, and only then will he be able to characterize the experience and “label” it as an emotion. For example, suddenly hearing footsteps behind her, a woman walking along a deserted street at night will most likely feel a trembling in her body, muscle tension and a rapid heartbeat. Having noted the physiological reaction of her body, she realizes that in case of danger there is no one to protect her, and, having convinced herself that she is in danger, she will experience fear.
Adaptation syndrome theory
The concept of adaptation syndrome was introduced by H. Selye, considering it as stress, due to which the body adapts to difficult environmental conditions.
He conducted research on animals, studying the influence of various factors on their behavior and came to the conclusion that the adaptation process includes three stages:
Alarm stage
At this stage, a person usually feels anxious and restless. And sometimes a feeling of elation, in those cases where he feels particularly confident and ready to cope with the upcoming task.
Resistance stage
The level of cortisol in the blood increases, blood pressure rises, and the heart rate increases. The body is mobilized, it is in good shape and in this state it is capable of accomplishments.
Exhaustion stage
When interaction with a stressful stimulus is prolonged and it becomes difficult for a person to resist it, internal strength and energy dries up. The work of all internal systems slows down. General health worsens. And if the body becomes too weak, a person can become very seriously ill.
Lazarus' theory of emotions
The cognitive theory of emotion, developed in the 1990s by Richard Lazarus, states that any emotion or physiological
activation of the body is certainly preceded by thought. In other words, before you have any emotion, you must comprehend the situation in which you find yourself.
Let's return to the above example. When a woman hears footsteps behind her, she first thinks that something is threatening her - for example, that she is being pursued by a robber - and only after that does her heart begin to beat faster, her body tremble, and she experiences a negative emotion - fear.
Thus, according to Lazarus’s theory (as well as Cannon-Bard’s), emotion and physiological activation of the body take place simultaneously.
Need-information theory
This theory was proposed by the domestic physiologist P.V. Simonov. In his understanding, emotions are determined by an actual need and how a person assesses the possibility of satisfying it. The evaluation process occurs automatically, a person analyzes certain information available to him in a habitual, unconscious way, and it quickly becomes clear to him what the likelihood is that his need can be satisfied.
The analysis takes into account:
- how strong and important a certain need is for a person;
- what will be required to satisfy it, that is, what efforts will need to be made;
- whether a person has enough resources to take actions to achieve a goal.
If such an involuntary assessment goes smoothly and its result is positive, emotions, as a rule, do not appear and the need is naturally satisfied. If it happens differently and, for example, a person does not have enough resources to satisfy his need, then a negative emotion arises and then he has to look for other solutions. And if the goal turns out to be easily achievable, then a positive emotion occurs.
Facial feedback theory
The appearance of this theory is associated with the scientific work of William James, but in 1962 it was developed by Sylvain Tomkins. According to this theory, emotional experience is at least enhanced by feedback generated by the activation of facial muscles that are involved in facial emotional expression; otherwise we simply evaluate the event rationally. In other words, a smiling person is happy, a frowning person is worried or sad. It is the movements of the facial muscles that give the brain a hint based on which it identifies the source of the emotion, and not vice versa.
Let's return to our example. When a woman hears someone's footsteps behind her, her eyes widen and her teeth clench. The brain interprets these changes in the facial muscles as an expression of fear and tells the woman that she is now afraid.
Carney Landis Research
In 1924, a graduate student psychologist at the University of Minnesota, Carney Landis, designed an experiment to better understand the relationship between facial expressions and human emotions. Landis wanted to know whether people experiencing the same emotions exhibit universal facial expressions. For example, will different people have the same facial expression when they experience disgust?
To participate in the experiment, Landis recruited mostly graduate students like himself. He drew black lines on the subjects' faces to make it easier to follow the smallest movements of their facial muscles, and then they were exposed to various stimuli, which, according to Landis, should have caused a strong emotional reaction. The researcher photographed each reaction. The subjects sniffed ammonia, watched a pornographic film, and stuck their hand into a bucket of frogs. But the most amazing part was the final part of the experiment. The participant was given a live rat and asked to decapitate it. This idea caused everyone sincere disgust, however, two thirds of the subjects complied with the requirement. And for those who refused to cut off the rat's head, Landis completed the task himself.
Although this experiment did not reveal absolute universality in human facial expressions and did not find a direct connection between facial expressions and the experienced emotion (disgust), it in many ways anticipated the results of another study - Stanley Milgram's well-known experiment with submission to authority, conducted forty years later. Landis was overly focused on studying the facial expressions of the subjects and did not understand that the most interesting result of the experiment was that the majority of the participants meekly carried out even the most senseless and cruel orders of the experimenter in power.
Paul Kleinman: Psychology. People, concepts, experiments
Brain structures involved in emotions
Many of the structures responsible for homeostasis and physiological rhythms (see Chapters 4 and 5) are also involved in emotions. And this is not surprising. In order to satisfy the needs of its internal systems, a hungry predator sneaks up on a smaller animal and attacks it (aggression). At the same time, he himself must be constantly on guard to avoid an attack by a larger one; predator (fear). The most important brain structures related to emotions are collectively called the limbic system
.
This is the most important “alliance” in our geographical scheme. This system is also known as the " animal brain
" because its parts and functions appear to be fundamentally similar in all mammals. The limbic system is located above the brainstem but below the cortex. A number of brainstem structures and some parts of the cortex are also involved in the generation of emotions. They are all connected to each other by neural pathways.
Rice. 102. The most important parts of the brain that form the limbic system. You can see that they are located along the edges of the cerebral hemispheres, as if “edging” them.
Limbic system
The limbic system includes several interconnected formations (Fig. 102). It includes some nuclei of the anterior region of the thalamus
, as well as a small but important part of the brain located below -
the hypothalamus
.
Neurons that specifically influence the activity of the autonomic nervous system (and thus the rhythm of the heart, breathing, etc.) seem to be concentrated in certain areas of the hypothalamus, and it is these areas that control most of the physiological changes that accompany strong emotions. Deep in the lateral part of the midbrain lies the amygdala
(almond-shaped nucleus), a cellular cluster the size of a nut.
Animal experiments show that the amygdala is responsible for aggressive behavior or fear responses. Next to the amygdala is the hippocampus. Its role in creating emotions is still not very clear, but its close connection with the amygdala suggests that the hippocampus is also involved in this process. Many scientists believe that it plays a role in integrating different forms of sensory information. Damage to the hippocampus
leads to memory impairment—the
inability to remember new information
(see Chapter 7).
The hippocampus and other structures of the limbic system are surrounded by the cingulate gyrus.
.
Near it is a vault
- a system of fibers running in both directions;
it follows the curve of the cingulate cortex and connects the hippocampus to the hypothalamus
.
Another structure, the septum
, receives input signals through the fornix from the hippocampus and sends output signals to the hypothalamus.
By tracing the course of the brain's neural pathways, we can see why all our interactions with the environment have one emotional overtone or another. Nerve signals from all senses travel
along the brainstem to the cortex and
pass through one or more limbic structures
- the amygdala, hippocampus, or part of the hypothalamus. Signals emanating from the cortex also pass through these structures.
