Cognitive theories all coincide in the importance they attribute to the interpretation that people make of the emotional situation. In order to Stanley schacter emotion is physiological activation. In order to George mandler, the emotional experience is a conscious experience. Schachter's theory of self-attribution. Emotion is produced by the conjunction of bodily activation and the person's cognitive interpretation of that bodily activation.
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. This is a slow and rather fuzzy 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, body 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. Your subsequent interpretation of the situation will lead to the type of emotion you will feel. The theory of Schachter suggests the existence of a sequence of events in emotional experience:
- There is a bodily activation. 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, the emotion is named, and this determines the emotion that the person experiences. Emotion as Mandler's cognition-activation interaction.
He has devoted great attention to the role of consciousness in emotional experience. From the existence of some perceptual or cognitive discrepancy, or when some action that is being executed is blocked, bodily activation occurs. The interaction between physiological arousal 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. 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 automatically, pre-programmed, or through a situation analysis. The three basic aspects of care, to Mandler, are the arousal or activation, cognitive interpretation and consciousness.
The main functions are those of bodily adaptation for what may come, of communication with our peers and subjective experience. Body adaptation. 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.
- The autonomic nervous system with two antagonistic subsystems, the sympathetic nervous system (most 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 bone marrow and others that destroy substances that are harmful to the body.
According Cannon, the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body to withstand stress. Seyle he pointed out the existing coordination between the three systems. He spoke of what is called the general adjustment syndrome. Three stages can be distinguished in the response to stress. During the first stage there is a 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 the resistance stage. 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 it 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 of other species. Emotional expression is spontaneous in the sense of opposite 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 his feelings and emotions so that he can act accordingly.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
