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How are Emotional Feelings Determined

How are Emotional Feelings Determined


Every person experiences different sets of emotions—happiness, sadness, fear, anger, may it be simple as experiencing a single emotion or as complex as feeling a mixture of emotions. Each person may also react the same or different than other people in a given situation. While a person is feeling afraid or scare, his hear rate speeds up above the normal rate and in addition, he sweats profusely. On the other hand, when a person is happy, he feels elated and at the same time, he experiences an adrenaline rush.

Looking at these scenarios, one asks, "What determines emotions? What makes a person react to a given incident?" These are the questions that would be answered in this paper.
Emotion originated from the Latin word "emoverse", which means "to stir up" or "to move" (Kahayon & Aquino 104). An emotion is an "affective state" (Kahayon & Aquino 104) that includes a "high level of activation and strong feelings" (Kahayon & Aquino 104). At the same time, emotions are generally governed by a person's experiences. For instance, a person who encounters pilfering in a given place, that person would now be cautious the next time he goes to the same place where the robbery occurred.

There are various theories like James-Lang Theory and Schachter's Theory that explain the determinant of emotions but the most believable theory that many researchers adhere to is the Cannon-Bard Theory (Chapter 11 380). As stated in this theory, a strong stimulus activates both the response of the body and the personal encounter of emotion at the same time. The strong stimulus goes directly to the brain's cerebral cortex that analyzes and interprets a given situation that results to a personal consciousness of the emotion and to the sympathetic nervous system that, in turn, brings about the body's biological response (Chapter 11 380). For instance, a human being who sees a snake, he perspires a lot and his heart rate races.

Another premise that Cannon-Bard Theory states that emotions that are encountered also include interpretation of the events a person experiences (Chapter 11 380). But there are also instances wherein a person may react first before fully analyzing the happening such as acting out in the heat of the moment. For example, a woman kills her husband when she catches him with his other woman in the bedroom.

There are also intricate emotions that heavily rely on a person's understanding, recollections and opportunities (Chapter 11 380). For instance, a man proposes to a woman. Once the woman accepts the marriage proposal, the man feels gladness, ecstasy and love. But if the woman rejects the offer, the man would feel dejected, surprised and unloved.

In general, humans are rational beings, thus, each and every event that happens to a person is judged in the brain's cortex based on the person's past experiences and, if none, on the experiences of other people and his own understanding. Though this is the case, it is still up to the person to either act accordingly to a situation or otherwise.



References Cited:

Kahayon, Alicia & Aquino, Gaudencio. General Psychology. Navotas: Navotas Press, 1995
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Posted by: Andrew Blanks

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