James-Lange Theory Explanation

Transcription

1 James-Lange Theory Michelle Stanek (N), Julie Mittelstedt (N), Eemil Harkonen (N), Haley Gruensfelder (E), Ella Morgen (W), Lillian Oelkers (W), and Jack Buehner (W)

2 James-Lange Theory Explanation The James-Lange theory states that the emotional stimulus enters our sensory systems and causes emotional expression responses (somatic, autonomic, and endocrine) which causes us to feel emotions.

3 James-Lange Theory Explanation You have a physiological response to stimuli, and your emotional response is how you interpret that physiological response. You are in front of a lot of people: I am shaking therefore I am nervous

4 James-Lange Theory Explanation Through advances in technology, we were able to find that emotions are actually a series of neural patterns that cause the bodily reactions that James and Lange interpreted as the cause for emotion. All emotions caused changes in heart rate and skin temperature, but James and Lange were able to find that the degree of change is actually the measure that distinguished emotions from each other. Although this finding did not support the whole theory, it did give some merit to the James-Lange theory of emotion.

5 Example Place yourself in this situation: Your are traveling in a commercial airplane from Atlanta to New York, and there is a terrorist organization who was taken over the plane. Event: You are thrown out of the plane by a terrorist while it is at an elevation of 39,000 feet.

6 Example Arousal: Your heart rate increases, you begin breathing rapidly, your muscles become tense, and you begin sweating. Interpretation: Your brain notices theses reactions and interprets them as an emotion. Emotion: You feel fear and panic

7 Example Against Place yourself in this situation: You are are on a backpacking trip in the mountains and you are hiking to your campsite. Event: You turn around the side of the mountain and see a bear Seeing the bear causes: Arousal: your heart rate to increase and adrenaline to rush Emotion: you feel fear

8 Limitations It is not known what causes the changes in the body, so it is unclear whether those changes should be considered part of the emotion itself. Physiological experience of emotion do not appear to differ from each other to an extent that would be essential to discriminate one emotion from another based only on our bodily reaction. Physiological aspect of emotion shadows our subjective experience of the emotion. Physiological reactions that are made artificially do not result in emotions.

9 Counter Points Cannon-Bard theory of emotion Emotions cause the physiological reactions Animals and Humans with significant sensory losses can still feel emotions Depth and range of emotions

10 Emotions

11 Criticisms from Cannon-Bard 1. There is no change to emotion when the brain doesn t have a connection to the central nervous system 2. Physical responses aren t necessarily emotional 3. Visceral changes occur too slowly

12 How I t Connects to Other Ways of Knowing The theory states that the way you perceive the situation will affect the emotion that is expressed. A situation may cause multiple emotions to occur. If someone is scared, the may show the emotion of fear, or the emotion of anger toward what scared them. People will often communicate their emotions verbally. People may communicate a scary situation by screaming, or communicate happiness by laughing. People often want to communicate their emotions, and when certain emotions such as fear are not communicated the often become more extreme. Situations such as getting scared, and displaying the emotion of fear, will become a part of someone s experiential knowledge people will get used to getting scared, but will still show emotions.

13 Thank You