 In psychology, emotion is often defined as a complex

state of feeling that results in physical and

psychological changes that influence thought and
behavior.

 Emotionality is associated with a range of

psychological phenomena, including temperament,
personality, mood and motivation.
 An emotion is a feeling comprising physiological and
behavioral (and possibly cognitive) reactions to
internal and external events (Sternberg, 1998).

 An emotion is a complex psychological event that

involves a mixture of reactions: (1) a physiological
response(usually arousal), (2) an expressive
reaction (distinctive facial expression, body posture, or
vocalization), and (3) some kind of subjective
experience (internal thoughts and feelings) (Nairne,
2000).
 Emotions play three important roles in the lives of
humans.
i) Emotions are needed for adaptation and survival.
Happiness and trust motivate a person to perform at
his best, while fear and disgust make a person
vigilant to danger.
ii) Emotions influence a person on how he perceives
the world. Thus, emotions have a regulatory
function.
iii) Emotions helps people communicate their needs,
wants and feeling to others.
 Emotional expressions can be defined as expressions
manifested by people while talking, observably verbal and
nonverbal aspects of behaviors that communicate an
internal emotional or affective state.

 Emotional expressions can occur with or without self-

awareness.

 Examples of emotional expression are facial movements

such as smiling or scowling, or behaviors like crying or
laughing or angry or sad or happy or thankful.
i) Basic Model
 The basic model of emotions is primarily based on the
findings of Charles Darwin. Darwin claimed that the
expression of emotions involves many systems: facial
expression, behavioral response, and physical
responses that include physiological, vocal and
postural changes. Darwin claimed that the expression
of emotion is universal and should therefore be
expressed similarly across race or culture. This is also
known as the universality hypothesis.
ii) Appraisal Model
 Appraisal models of emotion state that emotions are
triggered by mental states that are truly unique in both
form and function. Appraisal models are similar to the
basic model of emotion in that both views consider
that, once an emotion is triggered, emotional
expressions are biologically predetermined and are
displayed only in one emotion and every time that
emotion is expressed. The main difference between
basic emotion models and appraisal models is that
appraisal models assume that there is a cognitive
antecedent that determines which emotion is
triggered.
 Emotion perception is different from emotion
expression and refers to the capacities and abilities of
recognizing and identifying emotions in others.
 Emotion perception is the ability to make accurate
decisions about another's subjective experience by
interpreting their physical changes through our
sensory systems that are responsible for converting
these observed changes into mental representations.
 The ability to perceive emotion is believed to be both
innate and subject to environmental influence and is
also a critical component in social interactions.
 Emotions can be perceived through visual, auditory, olfactory, and
physiological sensory processes.

i) Visual
 The visual system is the primary mode of perception for the way people
receive emotional information. People use emotional cues displayed by
social partners to make decisions regarding their affective state.
 Emotional cues can be in the form of facial expressions, body postures
or found through the interpretation of a situation or environment
known to have particular emotional properties (i.e., a wedding, funeral
etc.)
 Visual system is the means by which emotional information is
gathered, it is the cognitive interpretation and evaluation of this
information that assigns it emotional value and then initiates a
physiological response.
ii) Facial perception
 A great deal of research conducted on emotion perception revolves around how
people perceive emotion in others' facial expressions., the face provides reliable
cues to one's subjective emotional state.

iii) Auditory perception

 The auditory system can provide important emotional information about the
environment. Voices, screams, murmurs, and music can convey emotional
information. Emotional interpretations of sounds tend to be quite consistent.
 Emotion perception in the voice can be determined through parameters such
as
a) pitch and duration
b) the way in which a speaker expresses an emotion, known as encoding.
c) identify a particular emotion as intended by a speaker, known as decoding.

iv) Olfactory perception

 Aromas and scents also influence mood. Humans can extract emotional
information from scents just as they can from facial expressions and emotional
music.
 The major theories of emotions can be grouped into
three main categories: physiological, neurological, and
cognitive.
i) Physiological theories suggest that responses within
the body are responsible for emotions.
ii) Neurological theories propose that activity within
the brain leads to emotional responses.
iii) Cognitive theories argue that thoughts and other
mental activity play an essential role in forming
emotions.
 Charles Darwin was a naturalist who proposed that emotions evolved because they had
adaptive value and allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce.

 Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps
improve the chances of success and survival. Feelings of love and affection lead people to
seek mates and reproduce. Feelings of fear compel people to either fight or flee the
source of danger.

 Understanding the emotions of other people and animals also plays a crucial role in
safety and survival. By being able to interpret correctly the emotional displays of other
people and animals, you can respond correctly and avoid danger.

 Darwin believed that facial expressions of emotion are innate (hard-wired). He pointed
out that facial expressions allow people to quickly judge someone’s hostility or
friendliness and to communicate intentions to others.

 Evolutionary theorists believe that all human cultures share several primary emotions,
including happiness, contempt, surprise, disgust, anger, fear, and sadness. They believe
that all other emotions result from blends and different intensities of these primary
emotions. For example, terror is a more intense form of the primary emotion of fear.
 This theory was proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl
Lange.

 This theory falls under the category of physiological theories of emotion.

 According to James-Lange theory , emotions occur as a result of physiological

reactions to events. This theory suggests that when you see an external
stimulus it leads to a physiological reaction. An individual’s emotional reaction
is dependent upon how he interprets those physical reactions. People
experience emotion because they perceive their bodies’ physiological responses
to external events. This theory suggests that different physiological states
correspond to different experiences of emotion.

 For example, a young boy walking in the woods sees a grizzly bear. He begins to
tremble, and his heart begins to race. The James-Lange theory proposes that
the boy will interpret his physical reactions and conclude that he is frightened
("I am trembling. Therefore, I am afraid").
 For example, people don’t cry because they feel sad. Rather, people feel sad
because they cry, and, likewise, they feel happy because they smile.
 Walter Cannon disagreed with the James-Lange theory of emotion on several different
grounds. This critique includes three main points
i) People can experience physiological arousal without experiencing emotion, such as
when they have been running. (The racing heart in this case is not an indication of
fear.)
ii) Physiological reactions happen too slowly to cause experiences of emotion, which
occur very rapidly. For example, when someone is in a dark alley alone, a sudden
sound usually provokes an immediate experience of fear, while the physical
“symptoms” of fear generally follow that feeling.
iii) People can experience very different emotions even when they have the same pattern
of physiological arousal. For example, a person may have a racing heart and rapid
breathing both when he is angry and when he is afraid.

 Cannon first proposed his theory in the 1920s and his work was later expanded on by
physiologist Philip Bard during the 1930s. According to the Cannon-Bard theory of
emotion, we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating,
trembling, and muscle tension simultaneously.

 More specifically, it is suggested that emotions result when the thalamus sends a message
to the brain in response to a stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction. At the same
time, the brain also receives signals triggering the emotional experience. Cannon and
Bard’s theory suggests that the physical and psychological experience of emotion happen
at the same time and that one does not cause the other.
 Also known as the two-factor theory of emotion, the Schachter-Singer
Theory is an example of a cognitive theory of emotion.
 This theory suggests that the physiological arousal occurs first, and then the
individual must identify the reason for this arousal to experience and label it as
an emotion. A stimulus leads to a physiological response that is then
cognitively interpreted and labeled which results in an emotion.
Stimulus Physiological response Cognitive interpretation Emotion

 Schachter-Singer theory proposes that people do infer emotions based on

physiological responses. The critical factor is the situation and the cognitive
interpretation that people use to label that emotion.

 Schachter-Singer theory also suggests that similar physiological responses can

produce varying emotions.

 For example, if you experience a racing heart and sweating palms during an
important math exam, you will probably identify the emotion as anxiety. If you
experience the same physical responses on a date with your significant other,
you might interpret those responses as love, affection, or arousal.
 According to appraisal theories of emotion, thinking must occur first
before experiencing emotion. Richard Lazarus was a pioneer in this
area of emotion, and this theory is often referred to as the Lazarus
theory of emotion.
 According to this theory, the sequence of events first involves a
stimulus, followed by thought which then leads to the simultaneous
experience of a physiological response and the emotion.

 Lazarus’s research has shown that people’s experience of emotion

depends on the way they appraise or evaluate the events around them.

 Example: If you and your friend are travelling on a dangerous road,

you may be concerned about the danger of the road. But your friend, on
the other hand, thinks about the beauty of the view. You will probably
feel frightened but your friend may feel excited.
 The facial-feedback theory of emotions suggests that facial
expressions are connected to experiencing emotions.
 Emotion according to this theory can be described as the
experience of changes in our facial muscles.
 When we smile, we experience pleasure or happiness.
When we frown we experience sadness. It is basically the
change in our facial muscles that provides brain with a cue
and form a basis of our emotions.
 Event  facial change  emotion
 For example, walking alone at night and hearing footsteps
behind will cause you to clench your teeth. Your brain will
interpret this facial change as an expression o fear.
Therefore, you experience the emotion of fear.