Three Major Theories Of Emotion Analysis

There are three significant theories of emotion that attempt to describe and explain the way we respond emotionally to stimuli. The first theory was created by William James and Carl Lange and is known as the James-Lange theory. They believed that our body responds first and then we interpret that response in an emotion. Alternatively, the second theory created by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard was called the Cannon-Bard theory and claimed that we have a bodily and emotional response simultaneously. Finally, we have the Schachter-Singer Cognitive Arousal Theory which was created by Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer. They believed that before we feel an emotion, there is a physical arousal and a label of that arousal is created concurrently.