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6C · Sensing, perceiving, and responding
Responding to the world
How we feel (emotion — its components, the competing theories, the brain regions) and how we handle threat (stress — appraisal, the stress response, and coping).
Emotion
Emotion has three components — physiological (arousal), behavioral (expression), and cognitive (subjective experience) — and four theories disagree about their order.
There are universal, cross-cultural basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust). The limbic system drives emotion: the amygdala (fear, threat detection), the hypothalamus (autonomic arousal), and the prefrontal cortex (regulation, interpretation). The four theories:
| Theory | Sequence | One-line |
|---|---|---|
| James-Lange | stimulus → physiological arousal → emotion | you feel afraid because you tremble |
| Cannon-Bard | stimulus → arousal and emotion simultaneously | trembling and fear happen at once, independently |
| Schachter-Singer (two-factor) | stimulus → arousal → cognitive label → emotion | arousal + your interpretation of it = the emotion |
| Lazarus (appraisal) | stimulus → cognitive appraisal → arousal + emotion | the emotion depends first on how you appraise the situation |
How AAMC tests it
A scenario specifies what comes first (the racing heart, or the interpretation) and asks which theory fits. Schachter-Singer is signaled by misattributing arousal (the "shaky bridge" study); Lazarus by appraisal preceding everything.
Stress
Stress begins with appraisal, runs through a three-stage physiological response (the general adaptation syndrome), and is managed by problem- or emotion-focused coping.
Primary appraisal evaluates whether a stimulus is a threat; secondary appraisal evaluates your ability to cope. Stressors include cataclysmic events, daily hassles, and life changes; distress (negative) vs. eustress (positive). Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS) has three stages: alarm (fight-or-flight, sympathetic activation, cortisol release), resistance (sustained coping), and exhaustion (resources depleted, illness risk rises). Chronic stress harms immune function and health. Coping: problem-focused (act on the stressor) vs. emotion-focused (manage the feelings); social support buffers stress, and tend-and-befriend (protecting others and seeking support) is an alternative to fight-or-flight.
Don't confuse
Primary vs. secondary appraisal (is it a threat? vs. can I handle it?) — and note GAS's alarm/resistance/exhaustion order.
Worked question
While hiking, a woman's heart suddenly pounds. Noticing both her racing heart and the bear on the trail ahead, she concludes she is terrified. Which theory of emotion best fits this sequence?