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Understanding Emotions Class

Bellevue University

Dr. Daniel Warren

December 7, 2009

Unit Week # 2 Essay number 1.

Written by Julian Combs

Introduction: Theories of Emotion: How Do You Feel: David 32, is not sleeping well. He

wakes before dawn and cannot get back to sleep. His petite is off, his energy is low, and he has

started smoking again. He has a couple of drinks at lunch and muses that it's lucky that any more

alcohol makes him sick to his stomach otherwise, he'd probably be drinking too much, too. Then

he thinks, So what difference would it make? Sometimes he is sexually frustrated; at other times

he wonders whether he has any sex drive left. Although he's awake, each day it's getting harder

to drag himself out of bed in the morning. This week he missed one day of work and was late

twice. His supervisor has suggested in a nonthreatening way that he do something about it. David

knows that her next warning will not be nonthreatening. It been going downhill since Sue walked

out. Suicide has even crossed David's mind. He wonders if he going crazy.

Dave is experiencing the emotion of depression, seriously so. Depression is to be expected

following a loss, such as the end of a relationship, but Dave's feelings have lingered. His friends

tell him that he should get out and do things, but David is so down that he hasn't the motivation

to do much at all. After much prompting by family and friends, David consults a psychologist

who, iron ally also show David that part of his problem is that see himself as a failure who

cannot make meaningful changes.

Discussion: How do the physiological, situational, and cognitive components of emotions

inter act to produce feelings and behavior? Some psychologists argue that physiological

arousal is a more basic component of emotional response than cognition and that the type of

arousal we experience strongly influences our cognitive appraisal and our labeling of the

emotion. For these psychologists, the body takes precedence over the mind. Do David's bodily

reactions for example, his loss of appetite and energy take precedence over his cognitions?
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Other psychologists argue that cognitive appraisal and physiological arousal are so strongly

intertwined that cognitive processes may determine the emotional response. Are David's ideas

that he is helpless to change things more at the heart of his feelings of depression?

The commonsense theory or (Folk theory), of emotions is that something happens

(situation) that is cognitively appraised (interpreted) by the person, and the feeling state (a

combination of arousal and thoughts) follows. For example, you meet someone new, appraise

that person as delightful, and feelings of attraction follow. Or, as in the case of David, a social

relationship comes to an end, you recognize your loss, feel powerless to change it, and feel down

in the dumps.

Theories of Emotion:

Several theories of emotion have been advanced, each of which proposes a different roles for

the components of emotional response. According to the Lange-James theory events trigger

specific arousal patterns and actions. Emotions result from our appraisal of our body responses.

According to the Cannon-Bad theory events are first processed by the brain. Body patterns of

arousal, action and our emotional responses are then triggered simultaneously. According to the

theory of cognitive appraisal, events and arousal are appraised by the individual. The emotional

response stems from the person's appraisal of the situation and his or her level or arousal.

According to Scharter's theory asserts that emotions are associated with similar patterns of

bodily arousal that vary in strength, that the way we label an emotion depends largely on our

appraisal of the situation. Cognitive appraisal is based on many factors, including our perception

of events and the ways other people respond to those events. When other people are present, we

engage in social comparison to arrive at a response.

Choice theory states that:

all we do is behave,

that almost all behavior is chosen, and

that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and

belonging, power, freedom and fun.

In practice, the most important need is love and belonging, as closeness and connectedness

with the people we care about is a requisite for satisfying all of the needs.

Choice theory, with the Seven Caring Habits, replaces external control psychology and the

Seven Deadly Habits. External control, the present psychology of almost all people in the world,

is destructive to relationships. When used, it will destroy the ability of one or both to find

satisfaction in that relationship and will result in a disconnection from each other. Being

disconnected is the source of almost all human problems such as what is called mental illness,

drug addiction, violence, crime, school failure, spousal abuse, to mention a few.

Relationships and our Habits

   
Seven Caring Habits Seven Deadly Habits
1. Supporting 1. Criticizing
2. Encouraging 2. Blaming
3. Listening 3. Complaining
4. Accepting 4. Nagging
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5. Trusting 5. Threatening
6. Respecting 6. Punishing
7. Negotiating differences 7. Bribing, rewarding to control 
       
The Ten Axioms of Choice Theory

1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.

2. All we can give another person is information.

3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.

4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.

5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can

only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the

future.

6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.

7. All we do is behave.

8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting,

thinking, feeling and physiology.

9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and

thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly

through how we choose to act and think.

10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most

recognizable. 

Behavior is both directed to, and results from, unsatisfied needs. The word unsatisfied is
most important. As Maslow says, "If we are interested in what actually motivates us and not
what has or will, or might motivate us, then a satisfied need is not a needed.

The word motivation is coined from the Latin word "movere", which means to move.
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Motivation is defined as an internal drive that activates behavior and gives it direction. The term

motivation theory is concerned with the processes that describe why and how human behavior is

activated and directed. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of study in the field of

organizational behavior. There are two different categories of motivation theories such as content

theories, and process theories. Even though there are different motivation theories, none of them

are universally accepted.

Also known as need theory, the content theory of motivation mainly focuses on the

internal factors that energize and direct human behavior. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Alderfer's

ERG theory, Herzeberg's motivator-hygiene theory (Herzeberg's dual factors theory), and

McClelland's learned needs or three-needs theory are some of the major content theories.

Of the different types of content theories, the most famous content theory is Abraham

Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. Maslow introduced five levels of basic needs through his

theory. Basic needs are categorized as physiological needs, safety and security needs, needs of

love, needs for self-esteem and needs for self-actualization.

Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation

Goals or intentions motivate workers to meet higher performance levels. Employees are

more expected to target reachable goals, but allowing them to take part in goal setting can

increase their commitment to even those goals that are more difficult to attain.

Aubrey Daniels stresses that goals are not the sole source of motivation, and that
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goal-setting programs like MBO (management by objectives) fail because organizations do not

take into account the need for reinforces. Managers should strive to

"reinforce progress toward the goal, maintenance of performance at or above the goal, and

achieving levels of performance above the goal."

Reinforcement Theory of Motivation

Reinforcement theory is a behaviorist application based on the idea that people are

not driven by motivation, but by their environment. The reinforces, or positive consequences, are

what make a behavior more likely to be habit than exception.

Reinforces work best when they are immediate, sincere, and specific to an activity.

Managers wanting to apply reinforcement theory to the workplace can do so through

organizational behavior modification, a successful and scientific approach to changing behavior

based on the research of B.F. Skinner.

I would say that I have to go by Glasser theory provides an explanation of motivation which is

markedly different from what many of us have been taught. A central aspect of Choice Theory is

the belief that we are internally, not externally motivated. While other theories suggest that

outside events "cause" us to behave in certain predictable ways, Choice Theory teaches that

outside events never "make" us to do anything. What drives our behavior are internally

developed notions of what is most important and satisfying to us. Our "Quality World Pictures,"

these internally created notions of how we would like things to be, are related to certain Basic

Needs built into the genetic structure of every human being.

References:

http://books.google.com/books?id=gQhFzMzW9fsC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=james-

lange+theory+of+emotion&source=web&ots=vW1QIylwh4&sig=kbfISZUOOTQ9Qo3fKWjjF

VrfbW0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#v=onepage&q=james-lange

%20theory%20of%20emotion&f=false For James Lange theory.

http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/cannonbard.htm For Cannon-Bard theory.

http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/schachter_epineph.htmlFor Cognitive

Appraisal and Schachter theory.

http://csml.som.ohio-state.edu/Music829D/Notes/Models.html

http://wglasser.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=27 Choice
theory by Glasser.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1911252/theory_of_motivation_pg2.html?cat=38
Glasser control theory.