The James-Lange theory is one of the earliest theories of emotion in modern psychology. This theory posits that physiological arousal precedes the experience of emotion, suggesting that one first observes bodily responses to a stimulus and subsequently feels emotion.
It was developed by philosopher John Dewey and named after two 19th century scholars, William James and Carl Lange. William James was an American psychologist and philosopher who proposed that feelings of emotion occur as a result of awareness of bodily activity. Danish physician and psychologist Carl Lange independently presented similar ideas, focusing on the vascular and muscular systems as the source of emotions.
The theory reflects a period when psychology began to emerge as a distinct scientific discipline. Previously, people thought of emotions as reactions to significant events or features, i.e., events occur first, followed by an emotional response. The James-Lange theory argued that the state of the body can elicit emotions or emotional dispositions.
It influenced subsequent theories and sparked a century of debate and research into the nature of emotion. It also marked a shift towards an empirical study of psychological phenomena, setting the stage for more complex theories of emotion to build upon.
Core Principles of the James-Lange Theory
Emotions are frequently thought to be judgments about a situation that result in feelings and physiological changes. In 1884, psychologist and philosopher William James argued that physiological changes occur before emotions, which are equal to our subjective experience of physiological changes and are seen as feelings.
Similar premises were established independently by physician Carl Lange in 1885. Both thinkers described emotion as a sensation of physiological changes in response to a stimuli, but they concentrated on distinct components of emotion.
Although James discussed the physiology of emotions, he was more concerned with conscious emotion and the conscious experience of them. For example, a crying woman reasoned that she must be sad.
Lange reworked James’ idea by making it operational. He made James’ theory more testable and relevant to real-world instances. However, both agreed that removing physiological sensations would result in the absence of emotional experience.
The approach stresses that physiological arousal, not emotional conduct, determines emotional experiences. It also underlines that each emotional state is coupled with a specific and unique set of physiological responses. It must meet two criteria:
at least two emotions must be induced
the presence of any emotion must be confirmed using additional measures such as facial expressions or verbal reports
The order of events is critical, firmly placing physiological changes before emotional recognition”
- Stimulus: An external or internal event occurs.
- Physiological Response: The autonomic nervous system reacts, causing bodily changes such as increased heart rate, trembling, or sweating.
- Perception of Physiological Changes: The individual becomes aware of these bodily reactions.
- Emotion as Perception: The feeling of emotion is experienced only after the body reacts; hence, emotional experience arises from the perception of these physiological responses.
James also outlined the biological pathway involved in the experiencing of emotions. He claimed that an object has an influence on a sense organ, which transmits the information it receives to the cortex. The brain then transmits this information to the muscles and viscera, prompting them to react. Finally, signals from the muscles and viscera return to the cortex, converting the item from “object-simply apprehended” to “object-emotionally felt.”
Further Research
More recent researchers have found that specific emotions differ physiologically in a few particular ways. For instance, studies have demonstrated that people’s heart rates are consistently higher when they are feeling fear and anger than when they are happy or even sad.
In this view, emotions are partially shaped by feedback from the autonomic nervous system, which modulates heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, and trembling—all of which can signal emotional states.
The autonomic nervous system operates largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions, including heart rate and blood pressure. It consists of two main branches:
- Sympathetic nervous system: Often activated during stress, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, leading to physiological changes associated with emotions like fear or excitement.
- Parasympathetic nervous system: Promotes relaxation, decreases heart rate, and counterbalances the sympathetic responses.
Studies reveal that those who are angry have higher blood pressure than people who are afraid, depressed, or happy. It was also shown that electrodermal responses were greater in fearful individuals than in depressed individuals.
Critiques
Scholars have found evidence since the theory’s inception suggesting that not all of its claims are accurate or relevant. Psychologists like Walter Cannon and Philip Bard questioned the hypothesis in the 1920s and created the Cannon–Bard theory, an alternative explanation of emotion that holds that physiological changes occur irrespective of emotions.
Schachter and Singer’s two factor theory of emotion is a third theory of emotion. According to this idea, the significance of physiological reactions to external events is deduced through cognitive processes. This view differs in that it posits that emotion is derived from both cognitive processes and bodily reactions.
Cognitive theories of emotion, such as the Schachter-Singer theory, introduce an additional factor: cognitive appraisal. These theories suggest that physiological arousal is nonspecific and that the identification of emotion is determined by the cognitive assessment of the situation. They argue that the context of the arousal must be considered to accurately label the emotion being experienced.
Cannon stressed that in animal trials, the viscera had been isolated from the central nervous system and had no effect on emotional behavior. He said that this went against the James-Lange theory, which held that the viscera were the emotional center.
Sherrington’s research on dogs, in which the spinal cord and vagus nerves were isolated from all other connections in the body, was examined by Cannon. The results showed that the expression of emotion remained unchanged, indicating that the viscera may not be directly responsible for some types of emotional behavior in dogs.
According to Cannon, gut reactions are too slow and insensitive to trigger strong feelings. Research by the physiologist J.N. Langley showed there is a two-to four-second lag between stimulating the chorda tympani nerve and the salivary gland that is connected to it responding. Cannon therefore contended that the physiological response could not have preceded the emotion since there was an excessive lag between the activation of the viscera and the response.
The physician Gregorio Marañón observed that stimulating the viscera to elicit a certain emotion was ineffective. In one of his experiments, subjects received an adrenaline injection into their veins, causing physiological changes that were predicted to be connected to feelings. But the feeling never materialized.
The only observable alterations in the subjects were physiological, such as the sympathetic nervous system being activated, which causes the blood vessels to constrict and the bronchioles to dilate. According to Cannon, this research refutes the notion that feelings are only experienced because of physiological reactions.
Dewey vs James
Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote in 2017 that neither Carl Lange nor William James developed the James-Lange theory. The philosopher John Dewey, who distorted James’s theories on emotion, did in fact name it. James never claimed that there is a unique biological condition for every type of emotion (such as fear, anger, etc.). According to what he wrote, every emotional experience could have a unique biological condition.
The presumed mistake made by Dewey “represents a 180-degree inversion of [James’] meaning, as if [James] were claiming the existence of emotion essences, when ironically he was arguing against them.” According to Barrett, “Dewey’s role in this is forgotten.”
Barrett further notes that there is not a direct correlation between an emotion category and a behavior when this idea is tested using electrical stimulation. Thus, “stimulation of the same site produces different mental states across instances, depending on the prior state of the individual and also the immediate context.”
She draws the conclusion that this indicates that experiencing an emotion involves more than just a bodily reaction, since some sort of processing needs to take place in between the bodily reaction and the emotion’s awareness.
She believes that emotion is more sophisticated than a simple bodily sense. According to Barrett’s theory of constructed emotion, a person must interpret the physical response based on context, prior experience, and social clues before determining what emotion is associated with the circumstance.
Current Applications and Legacy
Neuroscientists have examined the James-Lange theory of emotion in light of modern neuroscience, seeking to understand how physiological changes in the body influence emotional experience. Central to the theory is the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which mediates the physiological arousal that precedes emotional response.
Recent studies have focused on the brain’s role, particularly the cortex, in interpreting ANS signals. While the James-Lange theory posited that emotions are the direct result of physiological reactions, current research suggests a more complex interaction involving the brain. Emotions, it seems, are not just a bodily experience, but are also shaped by how the brain interprets these physiological signals.
For instance, the link between specific physiological patterns and corresponding emotions has nudged the theory towards a contemporary, refined version. Activity in the thalamus and the cortex is believed to contribute to emotional processing by attributing meaning to different physiological responses. Instead of the brain passively receiving signals from the body, it actively participates in constructing the emotional experience.
In current applications, this theory underpins certain therapeutic practices that focus on the somatic experience of emotions. There is an emerging trend of addressing psychological conditions by concentrating on the bodily sensations they elicit, acknowledging the James-Lange theory’s core premise: physical affect precedes and informs the emotional state.
The theory is routinely discussed in psychological curriculums, often serving as a counterpoint to later theories such as Cannon-Bard or Schachter-Singer which propose that emotions and bodily responses occur simultaneously or that cognitive appraisal is also necessary for an emotion to be experienced, respectively.
The James-Lange theory’s longstanding impact has particularly resonated in fields such as personality psychology and in the exploration of conscious emotion. It has catalyzed numerous lines of research that scrutinize the interplay between physiological responses and emotional experiences.
Though the theory has been contested and refined, it remains a cornerstone, providing a framework that continues to incite debate and research in understanding the nuanced interconnection between body and emotion.
References:
- Barrett, Lisa Feldman (2017). How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN 978-0-544-13331-0
- Cannon, Walter (1927). The James-Lange Theory of Emotions: A Critical Examination and an Alternative Theory. The American Journal of Psychology. 39 (1/4): 106–124. doi:10.2307/1415404. JSTOR 1415404
- Dalgleish, T. (2004). The emotional brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 5 (7): 583–589. doi:10.1038/nrn1432
- Deckers, Lambert (2018). Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. New York: Routledge ISBN 978-1-138-03632-1
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