Cognitive theories all agree on the importance they attribute to people’s interpretation of the emotional situation. For Stanley Schacter emotion is physiological activation. For George Mandler, emotional experience is a conscious experience. Schachter’s self-attribution theory. Emotion is produced by the conjunction of bodily activation and the cognitive interpretation that the person makes of that bodily activation.
Cognitive Theories of Emotion
The lack of one of these two factors makes the emotion incomplete. Distinguish between two types of emotional experience. One comes from the subject’s cognitions about the way he understands or interprets the situation that has produced the emotion. This experience occurs quickly and is well differentiated. The other type of emotional experience comes from the bodily sensations that the emotion produces. It is a slow and quite diffuse experience. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, the secretion of a substance called adrenaline (epinephrine) that passes into the bloodstream.
When epinephrine is injected, bodily changes similar to those produced by emotion occur. When a person experiences these bodily changes but cannot explain them, what he does is look in the environment for the causes of the sensations he experiences. His subsequent interpretation of the situation will give rise to the type of emotion he will feel. The theory of Schachter suggests the existence of a sequence of events in emotional experience:
- A bodily activation occurs. There must be a state of arousal or physiological activation for an emotion to occur.
- The person perceives this activation.
- The person looks for a way to explain the activation.
- When the cause is identified in the environment, a name is given to the emotion, and this determines the emotion that the person experiences. Emotion as Mandler’s cognition-activation interaction.
He has devoted great attention to the role that consciousness plays in emotional experience. From the existence of some perceptual or cognitive discrepancy, or when an action that is being executed is blocked, bodily activation occurs. The interaction between physiological activation and cognitive evaluation is what gives rise to the subjective experience of emotion. Conscious processing is necessary.
The emotions They can inhibit the use of the entire cognitive apparatus. The effects of emotional states are not always negative. The activation of the autonomic nervous system acts as a signal for the mental organization of attention and exploration of the environment. This activation can occur in an automatic pre-programmed manner, or through an analysis of the situation. The three basic aspects of care, to Mandlerare arousal or activation, cognitive interpretation and consciousness.
Main Functions of Emotion
The main functions are those of bodily adaptation for what may come, communication with our peers and subjective experience. Body adaptation. The changes produced at the bodily level constitute the most basic function of emotion. Body expression fulfills adaptive functions. There are three systems that influence body adaptation. All three interact with each other.
- He autonomic nervous system with two antagonistic subsystems, the sympathetic nervous system (more active during the emotional state) and the parasympathetic nervous system (which predominates during sleep).
- The endocrine system, made up of glands that secrete hormones.
- The immune system, made up of cells formed in the marrow of the bones and others that destroy substances harmful to the body.
According to Cannonthe sympathetic nervous system prepares the body to withstand stress. Seyle He pointed out the coordination between the three systems. He spoke of what is called the general adaptation syndrome. Three stages can be distinguished in the stress response. During the first stage, the sensation of alarm. The body’s resistance decreases at first and then begins to mobilize.
The adrenal gland secretes adrenaline and norepinephrine. The endocrine response consists of making the pituitary gland secrete the hormone ACTH that reaches the bloodstream. The second stage is resistance stadium. Activation of the autonomic and endocrine systems is no longer necessary. If the stressful situation lasts too long, the third stage called exhaustion stage. The autonomic and endocrine systems are activated again in order to prolong life for some time. This mechanism is not only responsible for the adaptation of the individual to face stressful situations, but is also capable of regulating the number of individuals in a population. Social comunication.
The behavior of an individual influences the behavior of others of the same species or other species. Emotional expression is spontaneous in the sense of opposed to voluntary and intentional communication of a generally verbal nature. Subjective experience. A fact of consciousness by which the cognitive system recognizes the emotional state of the individual. The individual himself is informed of her sensations and emotions so that he can act accordingly.
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