Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.

Definition

Emotion is often defined as a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. Emotionality is associated with a range of psychological phenomena, including temperament, personality, mood, and motivation.

Theories of Emotion

There are several theories of emotion. These include:

• The James-Lange theory of emotion argues that an event causes physiological arousal first and then we interpret this arousal. Only after our interpretation of the arousal can we experience emotion.
• The Cannon-Bard theory argues that we experience physiological arousal and emotional at the same time, but gives no attention to the role of thoughts or outward behavior.
• The Schachter-Singer theory suggests that once we experience physiological arousal, we then seek an appropriate explanation or label for this arousal, which then leads to the experience of emotion.

Emotion and the Brain

The brain plays a key role in the regulation of emotion. The amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus are particularly important in the generation and processing of emotions.

Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation is the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible to permit spontaneous reactions as well as the ability to delay spontaneous reactions as needed.

See Also

• Mood
• Affect
• Feeling
• Sentiment

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  Sixteen faces expressing the human passions
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  Emotions diagram
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  Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions
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  Geneva Emotion Wheel
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  Expression of the Emotions
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  James-Lange Theory of Emotion
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  Timeline of brain models of emotion