JAMES-LANGE THEORY

JAMES – LANGE THEORY OF EMOTIONS-

William James, who was the founder of the functionalist perspective in the early history of psychology and a physiologist and psychologist from Denmark, Carl Lange, both came up with an explanation of emotion so similar to each other that it is refered to as the James-Lange theory of emotion. It is said in this theory that a stimulus of some sort (for example, a snarling dog) produces a physiological reaction. This reaction is nothing but the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system(fight or flight) which produces bodily sensations such as increased heart rate, dry mouth, and rapid breathing. In short they believed that physical arousal led to the labeling of the emotion (here, “fear”). The idea behind the James – Lange theory was that an emotion was not a direct reaction to some environment event, but rather a reaction to how the body was responding to that environmental event. For example, the line given explains the theory well, “ I am nervous because my stomach is fluttering”. In short the theory can be represented by the following flowchart:

STIMULUS à PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES à EMOTION.

For example:

Snarling dog à ANS arousal, changes in the body à conscious fear.

The James-Lange theory did more than merely focus on bodily responses (both autonomic and somatic) occurring during stress. The theory put forward the notion that these bodily responses formed the basis for an emotional experience.

CRITICISM:

• James identified emotion with outward expression only but it is not so in reality. Another psychologist Snout argued that it may be impossible for emotions to exist without expressing itself, but it does mean that the sense of expression constitute the whole emotion.
• Emotion not only contains physiological expression but it also includes effects of it on our perception, thinking and behavior. So with the abstraction of feelings of bodily symptoms from consciousness, emotion never dies down.
• James said,” if one refused to express an emotion it dies”. But it is not so , emotion if suppressed can never readily be withered away. The strength of a particular emotion doesn’t end or finish. Later on it expresses itself in a more vigorous way.  Moreover, it may have detrimental effects on physical and mental health as well.