9- Theories of Emotion

Question 1

Biological perspective suggests that emotions…

Answer 1

• Evolved through natural selection

- Allow coordination of responses to environmental challenges

Question 2

‘Folk’ psychology sequence of fear

Answer 2

• Stimulus
• Evaluate
• Emotional response
• Physiological response

Question 3

The James-Lange Theory sequence of fear

Answer 3

• Stimulus
• Physiological response
• Sense the response
• Emotional feeling

Question 4

Cannon and Bard’s critiques of the James-Lange model

Answer 4

• Disconnection of the body from brain does not disturb emotional experience
• The same visceral changes occur in diverse emotional and non-emotional states
• Viscera are ‘poorly’ innervated.
• Visceral changes are too slow to be the direct source of emotional experiences
• Artificial induction of visceral responses does not lead to specific emotional experiences.

Question 5

Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis

Answer 5

Suggests that ‘feelings’, not necessarily at conscious level, are able to guide or influence decision making

Question 6

Schacter and Singer’s Cognitive Arousal Theory

Answer 6

• Stimulus affects arousal and cognition
• Cognition and arousal affect each other
• Cognition affects response
• Arousal is manipulated by adrenaline
• Physiological arousal enhances current emotion

Question 7

Zajonc’s Affective Primacy Theory

Answer 7

• Stimulus affects unconscious affect which affects feeling

- Pre-exposure to novel patterns or stimuli produces an increase in liking for those stimulus

Question 8

Social constructionist approaches suggest that emotional responses are

Answer 8

Constructed to give shape and meaning to a social world