Where do Emotions Come From? Theories of Emotion

In this video, we shift gears to discuss human emotion. We focus specifically on psychological theories of emotion–that is, theories about the origins of emotion.

Evolutionary Theories of Emotion: Theories which assume that emotions precede (i.e., come before) thought; these theories posit that emotions are innate, universal, and serve adaptive functions.

Cognitive Theories of Emotion: Theories which assume that thoughts produce emotions; these theories posit that emotions arise out of the interpretation of bodily arousal or the external context.

Discrete Emotions Theory of Emotion: An evolutionary theory of emotion which assumes that humans experience only a small number of biologically-rooted and evolutionarily-useful “primary” emotions that are combined in complex ways to produce the full range of human emotion; assumes that emotional reactions precede thoughts.

Primary Emotions: Innate, biologically-rooted emotions that, according to the Discrete Emotions Theory, all humans share (i.e., they are universal); the primary emotions are happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, contempt, and fear.

Secondary Emotions: More complex emotions that, according to the Discrete Emotions Theory, are the result of combining primary emotions; for example, “hate” is a combination of “anger” and “disgust.”

James-Lange Theory of Emotion: Cognitive theory of emotion which assumes that emotions result from the interpretation of our bodily reactions to stimuli.

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion: Cognitive theory of emotion which assumes that physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously, yet independently.

Schachter-Singer Two Factor Theory of Emotion: Cognitive theory of emotion which assumes that two psychological events are required for emotion: (1) an undifferentiated state of physiological arousal or alertness and (2) an appraisal of the external context to determine what caused that state of arousal.