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Emotionality is the observable behavioral and physiological component of emotion, and is a measure of a person's emotional reactivity to a stimulus. Often these responses can be observed by other people, while some emotional responses can only be observed by the person experiencing them. It is important to note that observable responses to emotion (i.e., smiling) do not have concrete, one-answer-fits-all meanings. A smile can be used to express happiness or anxiety, a frown can communicate sadness or anger, and so on. Emotionality is often used by psychology researchers to operationalize emotion in research studies.

Examples of emotionality

Smile, depicting joy (Ximena Navarrete, Miss Universe 2010)

• Facial expressions
  • Smile
  • Frown
  • Creased forehead
  • Raised eyebrows

Wide eyes and raised eyebrows, common indicators of surprise (Figure 20 from Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals)

• • Wide eyes
• Physiological responses
  • muscle tension
  • elevated heart rate
  • sweating
  • nausea
  • shaking
  • gastrointestinal distress
• Observable behavior
  • averted gaze
  • avoidance
  • excitement
  • fidgeting
  • gasping

Early theories of emotion

By the late 1800s, many high-quality contributions had been made to the theory of emotion by psychologists and scientists such as Wilhelm Wundt, George Stout, William McDougall, William James, and George Herbert Mead. William James preferred to focus on the physiological aspects of emotional response, though he did not disregard the perceptual or cognitive components. William McDougall thought of emotion as the articulation of a natural response built on instinct. Other psychologists reasoned that although gestures express emotion, this is not the entirety of their function. Wundt analyzed that emotion portrays both expression and communication.

Emotion as irrational

One of the oldest issues of emotion is the one that believes emotion indicates inferiority. In early psychology, it was believed that passion (emotion) was a part of the soul inherited from the animals and that it must be controlled. Solomon identified that in the Romantic movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, reason and emotion were thought to be opposites.

Emotion as physiological

Physiological responses to emotion are originated in the brain, the central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system. Some of the responses include: heart rate, sweating, rate and depth of respiration, and electrical activity in the brain. Many researchers have attempted to find a connection between specific emotions and a corresponding pattern of physiological responses, although it is said that these attempts have rendered unsuccessful conclusions.

Theories of emotional response

The significant theories of emotion can be divided into three primary categories: physiological, neurological, and cognitive. Physiological theories imply that activity within the body can be accountable for emotions. Neurological theories suggest that activity within the brain leads to emotional responses. Lastly, cognitive theories reason that thoughts and other mental activity have a vital role in the stimulation of emotions. Common-sense suggests that we first become consciously aware of our emotions and the physiological responses follow shortly after. Below are a few well-known theories which contradict this common-sense theory:

James-Lange theory of emotion

The James-Lange theory of emotion was proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange. This theory, in contrast to the common-sense view, suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological responses to outside stimuli or events. For example, this theory suggests that if you are driving down the road and you see the headlights of another car heading toward you in your lane, your heart begins to race (a physiological response) and then you become afraid (fear being the emotion).

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

The Cannon-Bard theory, which was conceptualized by Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard, suggests that we experience emotions and their corresponding physiological responses simultaneously. Using the previous example, when you see the car coming toward you in your lane, your heart starts to race and you feel afraid at the same time.

Schachter-Singer theory of emotion

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed a theory also know as the two-factor theory of emotion, which implies emotion have two factors: physical arousal and cognitive label. This suggests that the physiological activity occurs first, then we must cognitively distinguish the cause of the arousal and label it as an emotion. Using the example of a car coming toward you in your lane, your heart would start to race and you would identify that you must be afraid if you heart is racing, and from there you would begin to feel fear.

Gender differences

The opposition of rational thought and emotion is believed to be paralleled by the similar opposition between male and female. According to Crawford et. al. (1992), "men are seen as rational and women as emotional, lacking rationality." Additionally, in a study conducted by McRae et al. (2008), an fMRI was used to evaluate the neurological differences between men and women while exhibiting emotions. Distinct differences were found between the neurological processes of each gender that correspond to emotion within the brain. The researchers have hypothesized various explanations for this, though a distinct reason has not yet been theorized.

When engaging in social interaction, studies show that women smile significantly more than men do. Although the results are meaningful, it is still difficult to determine the exact difference between males and females to explain this disparity. It is possible that the best explanation for this difference in expression of emotions could be due to societal influences and conformity to gender roles. However, this cannot fully explain the opposition between the two sexes or how it came to be against social norms for men to frequently smile during social interaction. One approach to this suggests the male gender role involves characteristics such as strength, expert knowledge, and a competitive nature, and that smiling can be stereotypically associated with weakness. Therefore, men may feel that if they succumb to this act of "weakness," it may contradict their attempts to show strength and other traits of the male gender role. Another broad explanation for the contrast in male and female gender expression is that women have reported to experience greater levels of emotional intensity than men, in both positive and negative aspects, which could naturally lead to greater emotional response. This is not to say that men do not feel emotion. It is simply evident that men are less likely to express the emotions they feel than women may be. It has also been reported that men are more likely to confide in female companions, revealing their emotions and intimacy, while females are typically comfortable confiding in both genders. This suggests that men are simply more particular about how they express the emotions they feel, potentially relating back to the gender roles mentioned earlier.

Expression of emotion across cultures

It is believed that there are six universal emotions which expand across all cultures. These emotions are: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust (there is some argument that contempt should be combined with disgust, though it is not as widely accepted). According to Ekman (1992), each of these emotions have universally corresponding facial expressions as well. In addition to the facial expressions that are said to accompany each emotion, there is also evidence to suggest that certain autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is associated with the three emotions of fear, anger, and disgust. Ekman (1992) theorizes that these specific emotions are associated with the universal physiological responses due to evolution. It would not be expected to observe the same physiological responses for emotions not specifically linked to survival, such as happiness or sadness.

References

Category:Emotion Category:Emotions Category:Behavioral neuroscience