by Benedicta Mercado Felicia Theories of Emotion by Benedicta Mercado Felicia

What’s an emotion? Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual as a result of his interactions with the environment. Every human experiences different emotions in one single day. There are positive emotions and negative emotions. Emotions can be related to objects, related to one’s future, related to an event, social emotions and self-appraisal emotions, etc. Some emotions are primary such as love, care, joy, surprise, anger and fear. These primary emotions are innate and present from the time of birth. Secondary emotions, which we learn through our experience or learn by modelling other, include pride, rage, shame, neglect, sympathy, horror etc. In psychology, there are different theories related to emotion. We are going to talk about different theories in this presentation.

James-Lang Theory The James Lang theory of emotion was proposed by psychologist, William James and Carl Lange. According to this theory, as we experience different events, our nervous system develops physical reactions related to these events, such as increased heart rate, trembling, stomach ache. These physical reactions in turn create emotional reactions such as anger, fear, sadness etc. Therefore, a person’s emotional reaction depends upon how he/she interprets his/her physical reactions. For example, when someone cries, according to the James Lang theory, she is sad therefore she cries. Here’s another example: when you are sitting in a dark room all by yourself. Suddenly you hear breathing nearby. Your heart rate increases and you may even begin to tremble. You interpret this as you are scared and therefore you experience fear.

Perception of a stimulus causes bodily arousal which leads to emotion (Interpretation of stimulus-- danger) Stimulus (Tiger) Emotion (Fear) Bodily arousal (Pounding heart) & Fearful Behavior James-Lang Theory Perception of a stimulus causes bodily arousal which leads to emotion We do not run from a tiger because we are afraid.  We are afraid because we ran from the tiger. The relationship is See the tiger, Run from tiger, Experience fear We do not run from a tiger because we are afraid.  We are afraid because we ran from the tiger. The relationship is: See the tiger Run from tiger Experience fear

James-Lang Theory

Cannon-Bard Theory The Cannon-Bard theory is developed by physiologists Walter Cannon and Philip Bard. According to this theory, we feel the emotions and experience the physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. For example, consider the same situation mentioned above. You are in a dark room all by yourself and suddenly you hear breathing nearby. According to the Cannon-Bard theory, your heart rate increases and you begin to tremble. While you are experiencing these physical reactions, your experience the emotion of fear simultaneously.

Cannon-Bard Theory An emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers both a… physiological response (sympathetic nervous system) and the experience of an emotion (brain’s cerebral cortex).

Cannon-Bard Theory

Schachter-Singer Theory According to the Schachter-Singer theory, the element of reasoning plays an important role in how we experience emotions. This theory proposed that when an events occurs, reasoning takes place along with the arousal and emotion. When an event causes physiological arousal, we try to identify a reason for this arousal and then we experience and label the emotion. For example: you are sitting in a dark room all by yourself and all of a sudden you hear breathing. Your heart rate increases and you begin to tremble. Upon noticing this physical reactions, you realize that the reactions come from the fact that you are all alone in a dark room. You think that you may be in danger and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.

Schachter-Singer’s Two-Factor theory This theory focuses on the role of physiological arousal as a primary factor in emotions. However, it also suggests that physical arousals alone cannot be responsible for all the emotional responses. Therefore, this theory also takes into account the cognitive aspect of the emotional reaction. It suggests that there are interactions between physical arousal and how we cognitively label that arousal. For example, you are sitting in a dark room all by yourself and all of a sudden you hear breathing. Your heart rate increases and you begin to tremble. You notice the increased heart rate and realize that it is caused by fear. Therefore, you feel frightened. The whole process begins with an external stimulus (breathing sound in a dark room), followed by the physiological arousal (increased heart rate and trembling). The cognitive labels come into action when we associate the physiological arousals to fear, which is immediately followed by the conscious experience of the emotion of fear.

Schachter’s Cognition-Plus-Feedback Theory Type Intensity Emotion (Fear) Perception (Interpretation of stimulus-- danger) Stimulus (Tiger) Bodily arousal (Pounding heart) Perception and thought about a stimulus influence the type of emotion felt Degree of bodily arousal influences the intensity of emotion felt

Two-Factor Theory Emotion results from physiological arousal plus a cognitive label for that arousal

Comparison

Neurological Theories Broca’s Limbic Lobe Cortex forming a ring around corpus callosum: Cingulate gyrus, medial surface temporal lobe, hippocampus

The Papez Circuit Limbic structures, including cortex, are involved in emotion. Emotional system on the medial wall of the brain linking cortex with hypothalamus

The Papez Circuit Cortex: Emotional experience Hippocampus: Hypothesized to mediate behavioral expression of emotion Rabies infection: Hyperemotional responses -cytological changes in hippocampal neurons - Anterior thalamus Lesions lead to spontaneous laughing, crying Paul MacLean popularized term “limbic system” Evolution of limbic system allows animals to experience and express emotions beyond stereotyped brain stem behaviors

Anatomy of the Amygdala

The Amydala and Brain Circuits The Amygdala and Fear Bilateral amygdalectomy reduces fear and aggression in all animals tested Anger, sadness, and disgust may also be affected S.M. case study: Inability to recognize fear in facial expressions Electrical stimulation of amygdala -> Increased vigilance or attention Fearful faces produce greater amygdala activity than happy/neutral faces

The Amydala and Brain Circuits The Amygdala and Aggression Predatory Aggression—Attacks Against different species for food Few vocalizations; Attack head or neck No activity in sympathetic division of ANS Affective aggression-For show Used for show, not kill for food High levels of sympathetic activity Makes vocalizations; Threatening posture

Neural components of aggression The Amygdala and Aggression Predatory Aggression—Attacks Against different species for food Few vocalizations; Attack head or neck No activity in sympathetic division of ANS Affective aggression-For show Used for show, not kill for food High levels of sympathetic activity Makes vocalizations; Threatening posture

Serotonin and Aggression Neurotransmitter Serotonin Serotonergic raphe neurons project to the hypothalamus and limbic structures via the medial forebrain bundle Serotonin turn-over aggression in rodents Drug PCPA blocks serotonin synthesis aggression

Modern Appraisal Theries Researchers have developed several theories of how human emotions arise and are represented in the brain. The mechanisms behind our experience of emotions and our cognitive processing of them remains a central topic of research and debate. The appraisal theory of emotion, developed primarily through the work of prominent researchers Magda Arnold and Richard Lazarus, proposes that emotions are extracted from our "appraisals" (i.e., our evaluations, interpretations, and explanations) of events. The central question that the appraisal theory seeks to answer is why different people have different perceptions of and emotional reactions to the same situations.

Magda B. Arnold Magda Arnold (1903–2002) was an American psychologist who coined the term appraisal to refer to the cognitive processes preceding the elicitation of emotion. She developed her “cognitive theory” in the 1960s, which specified that the first step in experiencing an emotion is an appraisal of the situation. According to Arnold, an initial appraisal begins the emotional sequence by arousing both the appropriate physiological reactions and the emotional experience itself. In this way, she identified physiological changes as important to the process but not as the initiator of people's reactions and experiences.

Richard Lazarus Psychologist Richard Lazarus (1991) adapted Arnold's work slightly in the development of his cognitive-mediational theory, which asserts our emotions are determined by our appraisals of stimuli. This appraisal mediates between the stimulus and the emotional response, and it is immediate and often unconscious. In contrast to the Schachter–Singer theory of emotions, which views emotion as an outcome of the interaction between physiological arousal and cognition, Lazarus argued that the appraisal precedes cognitive labeling, simultaneously stimulating both the physiological arousal and the emotional experience itself.

Subjective Emotion Emotion is a complex, subjective experience accompanied by biological and behavioral changes.  Emotion involves feeling, thinking, activation of the nervous system, physiological changes, and behavioral changes such as facial expressions. Different theories exist regarding how and why people experience emotion.

Subjective Emotions While experts believe that there are a number of basic universal emotions that are experienced by people all over the world regardless of background or culture, researchers also believe that experiencing emotion can be highly subjective. While we might have broad labels for certain emotions such as 'angry,' 'sad,' or 'happy,' your own unique experience of these emotions is probably much more multi-dimensional. Consider anger. Is all anger the same? Your own experience might range from mild annoyance to blinding rage. Plus, we don't always experience 'pure' forms of each emotion. Mixed emotions over different events or situations in our lives are common. When faced with starting a new job, you might feel both excited and nervous. Getting married or having a child might be marked by a wide variety of emotions ranging from joy to anxiety. These emotions might occur simultaneously, or you might feel them one after another.

Physiological Response If you've ever felt your stomach lurch from anxiety or your heart palpate with fear, then you realize that emotions also cause strong physiological reactions. Many of the physical reactions you experience during an emotion such as sweating palms, racing heartbeat, or rapid breathing are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary body responses such as blood flow and digestion. The sympathetic nervous system is charged with controlling the body's fight-or-flight reactions. When facing a threat, these responses automatically prepare your body to flee from danger or face the threat head-on. While early studies of the physiology of emotion tended to focus on these autonomic responses, more recent research has targeted the brain's role in emotions. Brain scans have shown that the amygdala, part of the limbic system, plays an important role in emotion and fear in particular. The amygdala itself is a tiny, almond-shaped structure that has been linked to motivational states such as hunger and thirst as well as memory and emotion. Researchers have used brain imaging to show that when people are shown threatening images, the amygdala becomes activated. Damage to the amygdala has also been shown to impair the fear response.

Expressive Behaviour The final component is perhaps one that you are most familiar with – the actual expression of emotion. We spend a significant amount of time interpreting the emotional expressions of the people around us. Our ability to accurately understand these expressions is tied to what psychologists call emotional intelligence and these expressions play a major part in our overall body language. Researchers believe that many expressions are universal, such as a smile indicating happiness or pleasure or a frown indicating sadness or displeasure. Cultural rules also play an important role in how we express and interpret emotions. In Japan, for example, people tend to mask displays of fear or disgust when the authority figure is present.

Action tendencies After defining the emotional reactions, you can start defining the character’s action tendencies (AT). The AT is a reactive component that triggers a certain action when the character experiences a particular emotional state. In authoring principle for the emergent narrative concept, it is best to use the action tendencies for fairly unpredictable behaviour such as cry or insult for instance. It is important not to rely on action tendencies for the development of an episode as if the agent is not in the desired emotional state, nothing will happen.  The main advice is to use goals and sub-goals as much as possible.