psychology-health

Emotions can be represented in many ways, and theorists have differing ideas about the way we display them. Darwin argued that the emotional signals we demonstrate are indicative of the emotional state we are in at that particular moment (Pinel, 2007, p.425).

Darwin’s theory makes sense; in ancient times, man had only the tools he roughly fashioned for himself from stone and wood. In order to be the hunter and not the hunted, man had to develop clever and fierce methods of protecting himself, and to intimidate animals which were a threat to his survival.

Darwin also says that as all animals have evolved, they have all found it necessary to change the ways in which they defend themselves, without showing their submission. Anyone who has been chased by barnyard fowl knows that raising one’s arms and ruffling their shirt is sure to make the most ferocious rooster think twice!

In 1884, James and Bard developed their own theory of emotion, and although it sounded feasible, the process is now known to be exactly opposite. According to James and Lange, the cortex receives and relays messages from particular stimuli which cause the autonomic nervous system to react, which in turn, produces the emotion.  

In the early part of the 20^th century, Cannon proposed yet another theory, will was later enhanced by Bard. The Cannon-Bard theory suggests that the stimuli produce multiple, simultaneous results in the brain; one effect is to trigger the emotion, while the other cause us to express that emotion. The theory argues that “emotional experience and emotional expression as parallel processes that have no direct causal relation“(Pinel, 2007.p.4216). 

In 1937, Papez announced his theory that the limbic system was responsible for the way we feel and show our emotions. Papez said that the limbic system’s actions were impressed upon the hypothalamus as emotions, and that other structures of the limbic system on the cortex produce the experience of the emotion. Some of the parts of the limbic system include “the amygdala, mammillary body, hippocampus, fornix, cortex of the cingulate gyrus, septum, olfactory bulb, and hypothalamus “ (Pinel, 2007, p.428).

There are other theories about emotions; how and why we feel them, and the physiological effects we have as a result, however, Darwin’s theory provides the simplest explanation as to why these behaviors can change from one animal to the next.

Pinel, J. P. J. (2007). Basics of biopsychology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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