Emotions

The ability to identify emotion and carry it out into one’s daily life is what defines an individual as human; if one lacks emotion, then the individual will become a robot of society. Emotion is defined as a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others

Facial Expression: The facial expression such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear helps a lot in conveying a message. These facial expressions are similar all over the world but non- verbal communication and behaviour varies hugely between the cultures in the world.Since the look on a person’s face is noticed , before we hear ,facial expression contributes a lot in a successfully non-verbal communication .

In class we discussed the three main theories of emotion: the James Lange, Cannon Bard, and the Two Factor. The James Lange theory believes people's emotions follow, rather than cause, behavioral reactions to situations. The Cannon-Bard theory suspects emotions accompany the bodily responses that are aroused by an external stimulus. Similarly, the Two Factor theory believes an emotion is

Emotions are used in our everyday lives help us understand and comprehend a situation. The way we feel can affect the way we think through a situation and the situation that we make. Our emotions are expressed when we play sports, when a loved one dies, or when we see our newly born baby for the first time. Emotions are a state of consciousness like joy, sorrow, fear, hate, and love. Whenever we are presented with a situation, our brain responds in feelings, and our feeling determine what will happen next.

The four major theories of emotion are the James-Lange theory, the Cannon-Bard theory, the Schacter-Singer theory, and the Lazarus theory. The James-Lange theory claims that an event first causes physiological arousal and also a physical response.  It is not until then that the person interprets the physical response as an emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that emotion -provoking stimuli are received by the senses and are then relayed simultaneously to the cerebral cortex, which provides the conscious mental experience of the emotion, and to the sympathetic nervous system, which produces the physiological state of arousal. The Schacter-Singer theory states that for an emotion to occur there must first be a physiological arousal, and second there must be an explanation for the arousal. The Lazarus theory is the theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus triggers a cognitive appraisal, which is followed by the emotion and physiological arousal. The most valid theory of emotion is the Cannon-Bard theory. He says that being afraid of something not only constitutes emotional fear, but it also brings about a rapid heartbeat. Concurring with the Cannon-Bard theory, we have a many different nerve systems within the human body that can be triggered simultaneously. This theory is more valid then the rest simply because of the adrenaline that is release into your body when excited or in the mist of eminent danger. The

Attempts to define “emotion” have proved to be rather difficult. Instead of searching for a comprehensive definition, Gross (2011) describes the three core features of emotions. First, emotions occur when an individual decides that a situation is relevant to his or her goals. Second, emotions are multi-faceted, and involve both subjective and physiological experiences, as well as behaviors. The third feature involves the authoritative nature of emotions. They have the powerful ability to interrupt ongoing processes, assert their priority over other activities, and force their way into awareness. For example, some traditions describe emotions as “disorganized interruptions of mental activity” (Salovey & Mayer, 1989). Emotions are such an

Christakis and Fowler state that emotions themselves contain several elements. Emotions contain a conscious element, meaning people are aware of what they’re feeling. They have a physical aspect; emotions are tied to an individuals’ health. They also have a neurological affect; altering activity and blood flow levels in the brain. Finally, emotions contain a visual aspect; they can be expressed in facial expressions and body language.

Emotions are used in everyday life, whether it be just a simple smile that makes happiness disperse in your brain, or a death of a loved one that causes sadness. The basic emotions are joy, interest, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt. The way we see emotion in ourselves and others can be very complex because we sometimes assume they feel a certain way just based on their actions or even facial expressions. When emotion is discussed in psychological terms, it is not based on one thing, instead it’s a mix of bodily arousal, expressive behaviors, conscious experience. Many theories try to explain how emotion works.

Emotions are feelings (Alder 140). Emotions involve a variety of components. These components include physiological factors, nonverbal reactions, cognitive interpretations, and verbal expressions. Physiological factors influence a person when they experience strong emotions (Alder 141). For example, if you experience fear, your heart rate will begin to increase, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. This results in your blood pressure to increase and an abundant amount of adrenaline to be released. To Saman, emotions are an assortment of different

People are shaped into individuals through many defining attributes – from the way we communicate and the way we express ourselves to a person’s morals and ethics. Coincidentally, these are all linked through one major omniscient trait – emotions. Emotions contain a wide spectrum of subcategories, but these can basically be broken down into the two elementary divisions: happiness and sadness. These ups and downs are crucial for people to be themselves; to have their own stories and experiences to tell.

In contrast,emotion is a strong feeling which is shown and connects to other factors such as a person’s circumstances, mood or relationships with others. However, individuals who interact with people and things as part of their daily lives, play a part in anybody’s emotional state, making them feel positively or negatively about that experience.

The goal of this Facial Ambiguity study experiment is to determine if age and/or mood has an impact on the perception of emotions. The perception of emotions is an important topic to study because the ability to discern emotions play a critical role in cognitive growth, reasoning, behavioral idiosyncrasies and basic survival. The prediction of the result was made by using participants, which consisted two groups, young adults and faculty, 30 pictures of neutral faces while music was playing in the background. The music consisted of sad and happy songs. While looking at the pictures and listening to the music in the background, the

Analyzing research methods used for uncovering basic emotions applied to the Cannon-Bard emotion theory and Drive reduction arousal theory. The Cannon-Bard theory of emotion is a stimulating event takes place, emotional, and physiological changes occur (Changing Minds, 2010). A person may feel muscular tension as well as sweating to the situation. A research method associated with the Cannon-Bard emotion theory would be the evolution theory. This method is an idea where emotion aids species survival (Decker, 2010). An example: A person is hiking through the woods approaches a snake. The appearance of the snake evokes fear, which in return causes the emotional experience. Fear produces behavior and emotion to run, muscular tension, or possibly cry. The emotion evoked by the predator or event causes the survival. The Drive reduction arousal theory is an approach to motivation that assumes behavior arises. Arousal is the source of emotions. Second, arousal is the impetus for attending to

Chapter 1 explains the work of a Harvard psychologist named William James. William published the article “What is an Emotion?” in a philosophical journal entitled Mind in 1884. His paper is an argument for the primacy and necessity of bodily systems in producing emotional feelings. James-Lange theory states that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion. A Harvard physiologist, Walter Cannon, roundly criticized James’ theory, claiming that, according to the Cannon Bard theory, physiological changes follow emotional expression.

When talking about emotion it seems a fairly simple topic and immediately "feeling" words come to mind; sad, happy, and confused. These are basic emotions and easy to understand. What isn't so simple about emotions is their process and how they form and work. Emotions are reactions to sensory information like sight, smell, taste, touch and sound (Tracing Emotion’s Pathways 94). However, it is not that simple; an emotional reaction or response is made aware of and understood by a part of the brain called the sensory cortex. These emotional responses or reactions to sensory stimuli are processed by a part of the brain called the amygdala (What’s An Emotion). The amygdala is a huge asset to the cognitive factors of emotions because in processing emotions you become able to understand, recognize, and control them. So then how do emotions evoke a physiological reaction such as tearing up when one feels sad, laughing with joy, and trembling with fear? These physiological reactions that one may experience come from the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is, “a collection of fibers that extend throughout