1) Emotion researchers have disagreed about whether emotional responses occur in
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Question
1) Emotion researchers have disagreed about whether emotional responses occur in the absence of cognitive processing. How would you characterize the approach of the following researchers: Zanjonc, LeDoux, Lazarus, Schacter, and Singer?
2) According to Schacter and Singer, two factors lead to our experience of emotion. What are they? Give an example of a stimulus and response using this two factor model.
3)
Theories of Emotion
STEP 1: Using a stimulus of your choosing (not one found in your text) demonstrate the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer, and cognitive-mediational theories of emotion. Describe each in just a few sentences.
Criteria Ratings Points James-Lange Theory Demonstrates an understanding of the James-Lange theory and provides an appropriate example Provides an example of the James-Lange Theory but it is not clearly explained Does not demonstrate understanding of the James-Lange Theory __/5 Cannon-Bard Theory Demonstrates an understanding of the Cannon-Bard Theory theory and provides an appropriate example Provides an example of the Cannon-Bard Theory but it is not clearly explained Does not demonstrate understanding of the Cannon-Bard Theory __/5 Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory Demonstrates an understanding of the Schachter-Singer theory and provides an appropriate example Provides an example of the Schachter-Singer Theory but it is not clearly explained Does not demonstrate understanding of the Schachter-Singer Theory __/5 Cognitive-mediational Theory Demonstrates an understanding of the Cognitive-mediational Theory theory and provides an appropriate example Provides an example of the Cognitive-mediational Theory but it is not clearly explained Does not demonstrate understanding of the Cognitive-mediational Theory __/5 Total: __/20Explanation / Answer
Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer in their quest to understand emotions, and the root cause behind feelings, developed a theory which emphasized on the cognitive aspects of emotions. Schachter and Singer, suggested that emotion provoking situations and events, produce an internal arousal. In order to understand the excitement from within, an individual focuses on the environmental factors in order to seek the basis for this internal arousal. Once the stimulus has been discovered in the environment, we select a certain label for the arousal experienced. When we label the internal arousal or excitement, we are determining are emotions which could be fear, sadness, anger, happiness or disgust.
According to Schachter and Singer, emotions are caused by two factors:
1. Physiological arousal which tends to be vague and diffused.
2. Cognitive process by which individuals label their physiological arousal.
For instance, the landline at your home rings in the middle of the night. You are likely to jump out of the bed because you never expect a call at that hour on the landline. You immediately suspect it to be a bad news and it fears you. The emotion experienced here is fear. As soon as you learn it was a blank call, you take a sigh of relief and go back to sleep. This emphasizes on how you experience your emotion based on physiological factors present in the environment and your cognitive processes label them immediately. If you got a call on the landline in the middle of the day, it would be just another call. You would not freak out because you often have your friends and grandparents calling you.
The theory by Schachter and Singer emphasized on how physiological arousal and cognitive processes help us understand our experience of emotions.
The James-Lange theory focuses on experiencing physiological changes before experiencing emotions. For instance, a person encounters a snake, according to James and Lange, a person does not run away because he’s scared, but as a matter of fact, a person first experiences physiological changes which results in the emotion experienced. A person who has encountered a snake will first experience his muscles tensing up, racing heartbeat and profuse sweating, because of the physiological changes, a person then experiences the emotion fear.
Canon and Bard suggested that there are emotion provoking responses in the hypothalamic region which stimulates the cerebral cortex which makes it possible for us to experience the emotion as well as physiological changes at the same time. From the above example, when a person encounters a snake, he experiences the emotion fear as well as experiences the physiological changes like his racing heartbeat, stiff muscles at the same time which make him run for his life.
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