How Do Emotions Work?
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Emotional Roots
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Happiness, sadness, anger, relief and joy are all different types of emotions we have. Not only are emotions associated with thoughts in our heads, they can be physically felt or expressed as well. In some cases, more than one emotion can be felt and expressed at the same time. This complexity and duality makes it difficult to directly define where emotions come from. Several scientists and experts have come up with ways to classify emotions and theories as to their origins.
Reactions and Events
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There are several cognitive theories that might explain emotions and their roots. Jesse Prinz wrote a book called "Gut Reactions" that describes emotions as a double sense of perceptions, based on our bodily changes and a perception of impending issues. The Affective Events Theory, proposed by Russell Cropanzano and Howard Weiss, states that events influence emotions, which then influence our behaviors. Walter Cannon believes that emotions happen first psychologically before emotional behaviors happen, such as the feeling of sadness before crying.
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Physical Reaction
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Just as Cannon believed that reactions happen after the feeling, another theory suggests just the opposite. William James and Carl Lange composed the James-Lange concept that believes the body experiences emotions before the mind reacts. It also believes that the bodily change due to a changed situation is actually the emotion.
The mammalian limbic system, which includes the brain and its areas associated with emotions, may influence our emotions. The neurobiological theory believes that our brain's chemical processes --- such as dopamine and noradrenalin levels --- have a tremendous affect on our emotions. Since mammals are presumably wired to nurture and care for their young as opposed to some reptiles who eat their children, it is thought that the emotion of love is derived from the cingulated gyrus in the middle of the brain.
Experiments
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One cognitive theory was developed around an experiment. Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer conducted a study where two people were subjected to the same situation but experienced different emotions. The people were given adrenaline shots and waited in a room with another subject, who would either act playfully or angrily towards the other. Yet the subjects were not necessarily given adrenaline shots. Some received placebos and others were told the shots would have the opposite effect of adrenaline. The behavior of the subjects led Schachter and Singer to believe that people's emotions will only come out depending on the degree of their physiological state and how the subject chooses to interpret the situation.
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