Jamess Peripheral Theory

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Chapter 8 Motivation and Emotion
Theories of Emotion
䉴 Is emotion in the heart, in the head, or both?
Are the physiological responses associated with emotion enough to create an emotional
experience? Or are those responses the result of emotional experiences that begin in the
brain? And how does our mental interpretation of events affect our emotional reactions to them? For over a century now, psychologists have worked at finding the answers
to these questions. In the process, they have developed a number of theories that
explain emotion mainly in terms of biological or cognitive factors. The main biological theories are those of William James and Walter Cannon. The most prominent cognitive theories are those of Stanley Schachter and Richard Lazarus. Let’s review these
theories, along with some research designed to evaluate them.
James’s Peripheral Theory
Suppose you are camping in the woods when a huge bear approaches your tent in the
middle of the night. You would no doubt be afraid and run for your life, but would
you run because you’re afraid, or are you afraid because you run? This was the example and the question posed by William James, one of the first psychologists to offer a
formal account of how physiological responses relate to emotional experience. He
argued that you are afraid because you run. Your running and the physiological
responses associated with it, he said, follow directly from your perception of the bear.
At first, James’s claim sounds ridiculous; it would be silly to run from something
unless you already feared it. James concluded otherwise after examining his own mental processes. He decided that once you strip away all physiological responses—such as
changes in heart rate, breathing, and other peripheral nervous system activity—nothing remains of the experience of an emotion (James, 1890). Without these responses,
he said, you would feel no fear, because it is the experiencing of physiological responses
that creates fear and other emotions. The same argument was made by Carle Lange, a
Danish physician, so James’s view is sometimes called the James-Lange theory of emotion. It is also known as a peripheral theory of emotion, because it emphasizes activity
in the peripheral nervous system, not in the central nervous system, as the main cause
of emotional experience.
Figure 8.8 outlines the components of emotional experience, including those emphasized by James. First, perception affects the
cerebral cortex. The brain interprets a situation and automatically directs a particular
set of physiological changes, such as increased heart rate, sinking stomach, perspiration, and certain patterns of blood flow. It is when we become aware of this pattern of
bodily changes, said James, that we experience an emotion. According to this view, each
particular emotion is created by a particular pattern of physiological responses.
Notice that according to James’s theory, emotional experience is not generated by
the brain alone. There is no special “emotion center” in the brain where the firing of
neurons creates a direct experience of emotion. If this theory is accurate, it might
account for the difficulty we sometimes have in knowing our true feelings: We must
figure out what emotions we feel by perceiving small differences in specific physiological response patterns (Katkin, Wiens, & Öhman, 2001).
Observing Peripheral Responses
Evaluating James’s Theory Research shows that certain emotional states are
indeed associated with particular patterns of autonomic changes (Damasio et al., 2000;
Keltner & Buswell, 1996; Sinha & Parsons, 1996). For example, blood flow to the hands
and feet increases in association with anger and decreases in association with fear
(Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen, 1990). So fear involves “cold feet”; anger does not. A pattern of activity associated with disgust includes increased muscle activity but no change
in heart rate. And when people mentally relive different kinds of emotional experiences,
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Theories of Emotion
2. Cognitive interpretation
(That bear can kill me!)
1. Sensation/perception
(It's a bear!)
3. Activation of CNS
and peripheral
nervous system
(Cannon)
5. Perception of
peripheral responses
(James)
6. Cognitive
interpretation of
peripheral responses
(Schachter)
4. Peripheral responses
(e.g., increase in
heart rate, change in
facial expression)
FIGURE
8.8
Components of Emotion
Emotion is associated with activity in the
brain, as well as with responses elsewhere
in the body (called peripheral responses)
and with cognitive interpretations of
events. Emotion theorists have argued
about which of these components are essential for emotion. William James emphasized the perception of peripheral
responses, such as changes in heart rate.
Walter Cannon asserted that emotion
could occur entirely within the brain.
Stanley Schachter emphasized cognitive
factors, including how we interpret events
and label peripheral responses.
they show different patterns of autonomic activity (Ekman, Levenson, & Friesen, 1983).
These emotion-specific patterns of physiological activity have been found in widely different cultures (Levenson et al., 1992). Further, people who are more keenly aware of
physiological changes in their bodies are likely to experience emotions more intensely
than those who are less aware of such changes (Schneider, Ring, & Katkin, 1998; Wiens,
Mezzacappa, & Katkin, 2000). It has even been suggested that the “gut feelings” that
cause us to approach or avoid certain situations might be the result of physiological
changes that are perceived without conscious awareness (Bechara et al., 1997; Damasio,
1994; Katkin et al., 2001; Winkielman & Berridge, 2004).
Different patterns of autonomic activity are also related to specific emotional facial
expressions. In one study, research participants were asked to make a series of facial
movements that, when combined, would create the appearance of sadness, fear, happiness, anger, or some other emotion (Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen, 1990). Making these
movements led to autonomic changes that resembled those normally accompanying
emotion (see Figure 8.9). In addition, almost all of the participants reported feeling the
emotion associated with the expression they had created, even though they couldn’t see
their own expressions and didn’t realize that they had made an “emotional” face.
Other studies have confirmed these results (Schnall & Laird, 2003) and have also
shown that emotional feelings can be eased by relaxing facial muscles (Duclos & Laird,
2001). To get an idea of how facial expressions can alter, as well as commulearn nicate, emotion, look at a photograph of someone whose face is showing a
by
doing strong emotion, and try your best to imitate it. Did this create in you the same
feelings and autonomic responses that the other person appears to be experiencing?
2
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8.9
0.3
Change
5
4
3
2
0.2
0.1
0
–0.1
1
Heart rate
Finger temperature
(A)
(B)
0.6
0.012
0.5
0.008
Change
In this experiment, facial movements characteristic of different emotions produced
different patterns of change in (A) heart
rate; (B) peripheral blood flow, as measured by finger temperature; (C) skin conductance; and (D) muscle activity
(Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen, 1990). For
example, making an angry face caused
heart rate and finger temperature to rise,
whereas making a fearful face raised heart
rate but lowered finger temperature.
6
Change
Patterns of Physiological Change
Associated with Different
Emotions
Change
FIGURE
Chapter 8 Motivation and Emotion
0.4
0.3
0.004
0
0.2
–0.004
0.1
–0.008
Skin conductance
Muscle activity
(C)
(D)
Anger
Sadness
Happiness
Fear
Disgust
Surprise
Source: Levenson, Ekman, & Friesen (1990).
A variation on James’s theory, called the facial feedback hypothesis, suggests that
involuntary facial movements provide enough information about activity in the rest of
the body to create an emotional experience (Ekman & Davidson, 1993). If so, it would
help to explain how posed facial expressions create the emotions normally associated
with them. Try taking advantage of this notion in your own life. The next time you
want to cheer yourself up, it might help to smile—even though you don’t feel like it
(Fleeson, Malanos, & Achille, 2002)!
James’s view that different patterns of physiological activity are associated with different emotions forms the basis for the lie detection industry. If people
experience anxiety or guilt when they lie, specific patterns of physiological activity
accompanying these emotions should be detectable on instruments, called polygraphs,
that record heart rate, breathing rate, perspiration, and other autonomic responses.
To identify the perpetrator of a crime using the control question test, a polygraph
tester might ask questions specific to the crime, such as “Did you stab someone on May
31, 2006?” Responses to such relevant questions are then compared with responses to
control questions, such as “Have you ever lied to get out of trouble?” Innocent people
might have lied at some time in the past and might feel guilty when asked about it, but
they should have no reason to feel guilty about what they did on May 31, 2006. Accordingly, an innocent person should have a stronger emotional response to control questions than to relevant questions (Rosenfeld, 1995). Another approach, called the directed
lie test, compares a person’s physiological reactions when asked to lie about something
and when telling what is known to be the truth. Finally, the guilty knowledge test seeks
to determine whether a person reacts in a notable way to information about a crime
that only the guilty party would know (Ben-Shakhar, Bar-Hillel, & Kremnitzer, 2002).
Lie Detection