Site 1: "Theories of Emotion"
what belief did schacter, james, lang, cannon, bard, and plutchik all hold? (site 1)
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What causes emotions? What factors control how emotions are experienced? What purpose do emotions serve? Such questions have fascinated psychologists for hundreds of years and a number of different theories have emerged to explain how and why we have emotions. One of the early theories proposed by researchers was known as the James-Lange theory of emotion.1
Proposed independently by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange, the James-Lange theory of emotion suggested that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events. In other words, this theory proposes that people have a physiological response to environmental stimuli and that their interpretation of that physical response then results in an emotional experience.1
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Hugo Lin / Verywell
How Does the James-Lange Theory Work?
According to this theory, witnessing an external stimulus leads to a physiological response. Your emotional reaction depends on how you interpret those physical reactions.2
Example
Suppose you are walking in the woods, and you see a grizzly bear. You begin to tremble, and your heart begins to race. The James-Lange theory proposes that you will interpret your physical reactions and conclude that you are frightened ("I am trembling. Therefore I am afraid.")
William James explained, "My thesis, on the contrary, is that the bodily changes follow directly the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion."
For another example, imagine that you are walking through a dark parking garage toward your car. You notice a dark figure trailing behind you and your heart begins to race. According to the James-Lange theory, you then interpret your physical reactions to the stimulus as fear. Therefore, you feel frightened and rush to your car as quickly as you can.
Both James and Lange believed that while it was possible to imagine experiencing an emotion such as fear or anger, your imagined version of the emotion would be a flat facsimile of the real feeling.
Why? Because they felt that without the actual physiological response that they believed precipitated the emotions, it would be impossible to experience these emotions "on demand." In other words, the physical reaction needs to be present in order to actually experience real emotion.
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