The James-Lange theory of emotion (1920) attempts to explain the relationship between emotions, physiological arousal, and emotion-eliciting events, by stating that people experience emotion in reaction to their bodies’ physiological responses to stimuli and the environment. This theory is intriguing, because until today, the James-Lange theory challenges, contradicts, and inverts the common understanding of the relationship between the experience of emotion and its manifestation. This theory illustrates the idea that people don’t cry because they feel sad, rather, people feel sad because they cry and feel happy because they smile. Furthermore, this theory suggests that feedback from the physiological and behavioral reactions to emotion-producing
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The Cannon-Bard theory states quite the opposite of the James-Lange theory—the experience of emotion and physiological arousal occur simultaneously, with no causal relationship. Cannon’s theory posed three main arguments against the James-Lange Theory. One criticism that Cannon posed was built on the idea that the James-Lange theory suggests that different physiological states relate to different emotional experiences. This criticism articulates that people are able to experience different emotions, even in the presence of identical physiological arousal. For example, when one’s heart is racing, the individual may be excited, angry, or in love, which means our brains cannot solely rely on our bodily responses to know which emotion we are experiencing. Another criticism of the James-Lange theory is that people have the ability to experience physiological arousal in the absence of emotion. For example, the racing heart present when someone has been running is not an indication of fear, but rather the physiological response of …show more content…
It also challenges common understanding of emotion by arguing that people experience emotion in response to their bodies’ physiological responses to stimuli and the environment. This theory is supported by the notions that our experiences of emotion are weaker without arousal and that, to some extent, different emotions are produced by different patterns of arousal, which give us evidence about how we should respond emotionally. However, this theory has and is widely criticized, based on the concepts that people can experience physiological arousal without experiencing emotion, people can experience different emotions even when experiencing the same physiological arousal, and that physiological reactions occur too slowly to cause experiences of emotion. Nevertheless, the James-Lange theory has never been satisfactorily proved or convincingly refuted and is still considered an essential theory that provides explanation of the physiological process of
The Cannon-Bard theory states quite the opposite of the James-Lange theory—the experience of emotion and physiological arousal occur simultaneously, with no causal relationship. Cannon’s theory posed three main arguments against the James-Lange Theory. One criticism that Cannon posed was built on the idea that the James-Lange theory suggests that different physiological states relate to different emotional experiences. This criticism articulates that people are able to experience different emotions, even in the presence of identical physiological arousal. For example, when one’s heart is racing, the individual may be excited, angry, or in love, which means our brains cannot solely rely on our bodily responses to know which emotion we are experiencing. Another criticism of the James-Lange theory is that people have the ability to experience physiological arousal in the absence of emotion. For example, the racing heart present when someone has been running is not an indication of fear, but rather the physiological response of …show more content…
It also challenges common understanding of emotion by arguing that people experience emotion in response to their bodies’ physiological responses to stimuli and the environment. This theory is supported by the notions that our experiences of emotion are weaker without arousal and that, to some extent, different emotions are produced by different patterns of arousal, which give us evidence about how we should respond emotionally. However, this theory has and is widely criticized, based on the concepts that people can experience physiological arousal without experiencing emotion, people can experience different emotions even when experiencing the same physiological arousal, and that physiological reactions occur too slowly to cause experiences of emotion. Nevertheless, the James-Lange theory has never been satisfactorily proved or convincingly refuted and is still considered an essential theory that provides explanation of the physiological process of