CANNON

BARD
THEORY OF
EMOTIONS
 Basics of the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Walter B. Cannon and Philip Bard developed the theory in 1927 as a direct response to the
then-popular James-Lange theory of emotion.
 The Cannon-Bard theory is also known as the thalamic theory of emotion related to the
thalamus, a part of your brain related to sensory and motor functions.
This theory suggests that external (outside the body) stimulation — negative or positive — can
trigger both an emotional and physical response that starts in the thalamus
For example, if you have a fear of spiders, seeing one crawling near your bed may cause you to
feel fear and start trembling at the same time.

According to the Cannon-Bard theory, you’re not trembling because of the fear you feel and
you’re not feeling fear because your body started trembling.
Both happened independently at the same time as a response to the stimulus (the spider).

In other words, the theory says that it’s not the experiencing of the emotion that causes the
reaction in your body or vice versa.
Instead, both responses to an external stimulus happen at the same time.
 Cannon Brad
Theory

EVENT AROUSAL EMOTION

The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion states that stimulating events trigger feelings and physical
reactions that occur at the same time.
For example, A dog barking at you might prompt both the feeling of fear (an emotional response)
and a racing heartbeat (a physical reaction). Cannon-Bard suggests that both of these reactions occur
simultaneously and independently. In other words, the physical reaction isn’t dependent on the
emotional reaction, and vice versa.
 Examples

Here are a few examples of how the Cannon-Bard theory would explain emotional responses
in real-world situations.
Deer runs in front of your
moving car
 Picture driving down the road at night, when a deer runs out in front of your car.

You experience the emotion of fear and a physical response to the threat at the same time.

You feel panic at the possibility of hitting the deer and causing damage to the car or injury to yourself.
At the same time, your heart starts beating much faster and you slam on the brakes to avoid the deer.
Meeting someone you
like
 You have a first date with someone you may like romantically.

You hear the knock on your door and immediately experience butterflies in your
stomach as you feel excited and happy.
Seeing your child run out
into the road
 You’re spending some time in the park with your child.
Suddenly, you see your little one run after a ball that’s heading in the direction of a nearby
road.

You feel a sudden jolt of fear as your heart beats fast and you scream and run after your
baby.
 How the theory explains emotions and behavior

The Cannon-Bard theory suggests that emotions are primarily controlled by your thalamus,
an area of your brain that communicates with your peripheral nervous system and cerebral cortex.

The peripheral nervous system refers to all the nerves of your body outside of the brain and spinal cord.
The cerebral cortex is the wrinkly cover, or outer layer, of your brain that regulates important functions, from your five
senses to speech and memory.

According to the theory, the experience of the emotion (feeling it) starts in the thalamus, and the expression of that
emotion (how your body reacts) comes from the hypothalamus.
The cerebral cortex can either “allow” or “suppress” the physical expression of the emotion.
 Strengths and Weakness of Cannon-Bard Theory
A major strength of Cannon-Bard is that their theory was tested through experiments with animals.
A second strength is that Cannon-Bard were the first theorists to clearly identify the importance of cognitive
appraisals.

Yet, unlike James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard did not discuss the differences between quick and slow cognitive
appraisals.
They also did not consider whether certain emotion components occur earlier in time – for instance subjective
feelings should occur later in the episode because these represent our consciously reported feelings.
Finally, a large amount of evidence contradicts Cannon-Bard Theory. Today, we know that a sudden event can
quickly elicit physiological and behavior changes before we consciously process emotional experience.
For instance, a gunshot would likely quickly increase our heartrate before we can identify the eliciting event or the
emotion label.
James-Lange theory vs. Cannon-Bard theory
The James-Lange theory proposes that emotions result from a physical reaction and as a result are tied
to physiological responses to stimuli. So, emotion cannot exist without a previous physiological
reaction.

Go back to the example of the car and the deer.

In the James-Lange theory, the first reaction to seeing the animal is to slam on the brakes.
This physical response (slamming the breaks) then causes the emotions tied to that physical response —
in this case, fear.

The Cannon-Bard theory rejects the idea that fear comes from the act of slamming on the breaks.
Instead, in this theory, the same stimulus (the deer in the road) triggers both an emotional response
(fear) and a physical response (slamming the brakes) at the same time.

In short, the theories are competing points of view on the same responses and processes.
 Is the Cannon-Bard theory accepted nowadays?

The Cannon-Bard theory has been challenged multiple times. One of the main criticisms it has
received is that it gives too much importance to the thalamus when explaining emotions.

Even though research does show that the thalamus is involved in the experience of emotions, other
brain regions not considered by the theory also play an important part.

According to a literature review published in 2014, one major flaw in the Cannon-Bard theory is
that it doesn’t take into account that a person’s physical reactions can, in fact, influence emotional
experiences. Multiple studies suggest this is possible.

Studies in the review have shown that asking someone to hold specific facial expressions can
influence how that person feels. In other words, if you hold a “sad expression,” you may begin to feel
down after a while, even if no stimulus has been presented.