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it: “Given a state of physiological arousal for which an individual has no immediate explanation, he will ‘label’ this
state and describe his feelings in terms of the cognitions available to him” (Schachter & Singer, 1962, p. 381). [15]
Figure 10.6Results From Schachter and Singer, 1962
Results of the study by Schachter and Singer (1962) support the two-factor theory of emotion. The participants who
did not have a clear label for their arousal took on the emotion of the confederate.
Source: Adapted from Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social and physiological determinants of
emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379–399.
Because it assumes that arousal is constant across emotions, the two-factor theory also predicts
that emotions may transfer or “spill over” from one highly arousing event to another. My
university basketball team recently won the NCAA basketball championship, but after the final
victory some students rioted in the streets near the campus, lighting fires and burning cars. This
seems to be a very strange reaction to such a positive outcome for the university and the students,
but it can be explained through the spillover of the arousal caused by happiness to destructive
behaviors. The principle of excitation transfer refers to the phenomenon that occurs when people
who are already experiencing arousal from one event tend to also experience unrelated emotions
more strongly.
In sum, each of the three theories of emotion has something to support it. In terms of Cannon-
Bard, emotions and arousal generally are subjectively experienced together, and the spread is
very fast. In support of the James-Lange theory, there is at least some evidence that arousal is