Psychology: A Self-Teaching Guide

would be increased arousal. Under the condition of running away from the bear,

the act of running intensifies fear by increasing arousal.

If there is anything to the James-Lange theory, then one can influence one’s

feeling to some extent by willing one’s actions. The familiar advice to walk, not

run, when there is a fire in a public place conforms to the James-Lange theory. It

is widely recognized that the act of running, by increasing arousal, will cause fear

to escalate into panic.

In the musical play The King and I,Anna’s young son confesses to her that

he is afraid to enter Siam. Anna tells him that one of the tricks she uses to con-

quer fear is to whistle a happy tune. She says that by acting brave, he might

become as brave as he’s making believe he is. Again, the James-Lange theory is

at work. An action is inducing a change in an emotional state. Fear is being

turned into bravery.

(a) The James-Lange theory states that an emotion can be induced by an.

(b) The act of running has the effect of increasing one’s state of.

Answers: (a) action; (b) arousal.

The Cannon-Bard theory,also known as the thalamic theory,is based on

the collaboration of the two researchers Walter B. Cannon and Philip Bard. The

Cannon-Bard theory recognizes that the brain’s thalamus is a relay station. When

information comes in from the senses and arrives at the thalamus, the information

is simultaneously sent up to the cortex and down to the spinal cord. This means

that we become conscious of the cause of an emotion at the same time that our

body is preparing to deal with it by making changes in physiological arousal.

Returning to the bear-in-the-forest example, the Cannon-Bard theory says

that you are becoming aroused, and physiologically prepared to run, at the same

time that you are able to think, “That’s a bear!” This saves the individual precious

time in an emergency.

(a) The Canon-Bard theory is also known as the.

(b) According to the Cannon-Bard theory, when information comes in from the senses and
arrives at the thalamus, the information is sent up to the cortex and down
to the spinal cord.
Answers: (a) thalamic theory; (b) simultaneously.

Proposed by the researcher Stanley Schachter, the cognitive appraisal the-

ory,also known as the labeling-of-arousal hypothesis,states that a person’s

self-labeling of a state of arousal converts that state into a specific emotion. Let’s

say that Earl is driving, has taken a wrong turn, and is lost in an unfamiliar area of

Emotions: Riding Life’s Roller Coaster 111