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Psy 240 Week 4 Theories Of Emotion Paper

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Psy 240 Week 4 Theories Of Emotion Paper
Theories of Emotion
Shannon L. Turco
PSY/240: The Brain, The Body, and The Mind: All Together Now
May 2, 2013
April Kindall

Theories of Emotion In this paper on the biopsychology theories of emotion I will briefly describe each of the theories behind Darwin, James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Limbic System emotions. I will also include the brain mechanisms that are involved with each. Writing this paper will give myself and my reader a better understanding of emotions and how they are classified. The first one that I want to discuss would be the Darwin theory of emotion. In this theory Charles Darwin proposed that much like other traits that are found in animals, emotions also evolved and were adapted over time. His work looked at …show more content…
These can include a rise heart rate, perspiration, and dryness of mouth. This physical arousal makes a person feel a specific emotion. According to this theory emotion is considered a secondary theory, indirectly caused by a primary feeling which is considered to be the physiological response that is caused by a stimulus. The brain sends information to the muscles which causes them to respond. The Cannon-Bard emotional theory says that stimuli have two independent excitatory effects. These can excite the feeling of emotion in the brain and the expression of emotion in the autonomic and somatic nervous systems. This would mean that it contrasts the James-Lange theory viewing emotional experience and emotional expression as parallel processes that have no direct casual relation. The Limbic System about emotions proposed that emotional expression is controlled by several interconnected nuclei and tracts that ring the thalamas. It would appear that this considered to be the primary responsible for our emotional life and has a great deal to do with the formation of memories. There are some though that have suggested that the concept of a functionally unified system should be abandoned because it is grounded mainly in historical concepts of brain autonomy that are no longer accepted as
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