Schachter's Cognitive Theory Of Emotion example essay topic

When it comes to emotions, we usually don't even try to take an inside look at things enough to understand why we may act the way we do. We get so use to the fact that they are emotions and that is just the way it is with life that we just respect them as they come about. Although, emotions were not just accepted as emotions for William James, Carl Lange, Walter Cannon, Phillip Bard, and Stanley Schachter. These five men took it upon themselves to come up with three theories of emotions, the James-Lange Theory, the Cannon-Bard Theory, and lastly Schachter's Cognitive Theory of Emotion. For William James and Carl Lange life must have seemed somewhat different. Their theory the James-Lange theory went above and beyond to basically prove that common sense was wrong.

They were out to prove that an arousal of the body was not the emotion to follow a first reaction given in an uncertain situation. The theory states that there are emotional feelings follow bodily arousal. This says that basically they felt as though fear develops not as an first reaction, but because we become aware of the our body's reactions. To further back up his thought, James provided evidence that we do not even start to experience the emotions until after even having a body reaction. As for Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard, the development of their theory was quite different. These two gentlemen totally disagreed with the theory that was developed by William James and Carl Lange.

According to Cannon and Bard, the arousal of your body and emotional feelings happen exactly at the same time. They thought that there was more of a scientific process to emotions. They think that when one sees something that may create fear, the shock activates a part of the brain, called the thalamus, which then alerts the cortex and the hypothalamus for some type of action. This proves that the cortex produces our emotional feelings and behaviors.

Your body's arousal comes form the signals that are triggered by the hypothalamus. This all in turn is how Cannon and Bard figured that the body's arousal along with the body's emotional feelings happen at the same time. Stanley Schachter thought about a different theory all together. Schachter had thoughts that the emotions can be triggered by not the physical attributes, but the cognitive factors.

To Schachter, a particular emotion only occurs when we place a certain label on a general arousal. He also thought that we people become aroused, they have a desire to want to interpret their own feelings. The support for his cognitive theory of emotion comes from experiments that measure adrenaline in a person's body. Schachter also accepted the fact that perception, experience, attitudes, judgment, as well as other factors of the mind have their own influence on the emotions that we go through. Even though Schachter's cognitive theory has been around since 1971, there has been another enlightenment that goes with his cognitive theory. Stuart Valins (1967), came up with the thoughts about attribution adding a new light to the spectrum of cognitive theory of emotions.

Valins states that a person's body arousal can some from an array of different sources. Attribution is described to be the process that alters our perceptions of emotion. With attribution, we are able to predict that you are most likely to fall in love with someone who gets you stirred up emotionally. Although we try to prove this prediction with love, it is also sometimes true for anger, frustration, rejection, and other negative emotions that we go through. Through all aspects of the theories of emotions, we are able to understand that we go through certain processes because of either chemical or physical reasons. I think that the one that best describes Schachter's Cognitive Theory of Emotion.

To me, he describes what I go through best. I do always try to put a label to how I am feeling and why I may be feeling that way. It is a thought process more so than anything to me. If it was just up to the mentality that we had no control over our emotions, than we all would be half nuts with no control what so ever of our feelings and emotions. But I am glad that when I get upset, for example, I am able to come to grips and say to myself, "Kim why are you feeling like this?" or "Is this necessary stress?" I can totally relate to the facts that prove that our emotions fall under the idea of the cognitive theory of emotion because I know how I am. But that may not apply to everyone.

Their may be people who have no control what so ever of their emotions, or it might be some type of chemical imbalance and there is nothing wrong with that what so ever. All I am saying is that different people and their emotions might be easily described under one of the three main theories of emotions. I think that as long as we can have control of emotions some how some way, then we should be able to make and keep this world a nice place to live in. Word Count-885 All information that is used in this essay has come from our textbook, "Essentials of Psychology" 9th edition by Thomson and Wadsworth.