Motivation and Emotion
Keisha Dolen 22198323
11/20/2015
Essentials of Psychology SSC130
Essay 25072400

Emotions are feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior. There are three models of emotions, The James-Lange Theory of
Emotion, The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion, and the Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion.
The James – Lange theory wonders if gut reactions equal emotions. Does it? They took the view of instinctive response of crying at a loss leads us to feel sorrow, that striking out at someone who frustrates us results in feeling angry. That trembling at a threat causes us fear. For every major emotion there is an accompanying physiological or "gut" reaction of our internal organs. That reaction is called a visceral experience. This theory also has drawbacks. For it to be valid, visceral changes would occur relatively quickly, only because we experience some emotions almost instantaneously. Although emotional experiences frequently occur before there is time for certain changes to set in motion. The slowness with some visceral changes takes place, it is hard to see how they can be the source of immediate emotional experience.
The Cannon-Bard Theory is based on physiological reactions as the result of emotions.
They proposed the activation of bodily changes. In response to the brain and the message to the cortex regarding emotional experience. This theory really rejects the view that physiological arousal leads to the perception of emotion. It assumes that both the physiological arousal and the emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus. The theory states that after we perceive an emotional-producing stimulus, the thalamus is the initial site of emotional response. Then, the thalamus sends a signal to the automatic nervous system, producing a