Chapter 5 - 3

03 Psychology

Listen to a discussion in a psychology class. Fill in the diagram with the information that you hear.

M: How is everyone today? Feeling good? How about happy? Angry?

Most of you are just looking at me with a blank expression, wondering why I’m asking.

Well, that’s what we’re talking about today: emotions. You see, psychologist have been fascinated with emotions for a long time because they are so complex and intricate.

And one theory called the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion tried to do just that-explain how emotions are created.

Anyone ever heard of it-the two- Factor Theory of Emotion?

W: I’ve read about it… yeah, let’s see. It’s a theory suggesting that emotions depend on things, um, two factors, and those are physiological arousal followed by cognitive interpretation of that arousal.

M: Um, yeah, that’s basically it, exactly.

To rephrase, um, this two factor theory of emotion states that we need two things to feel any emotion at all.

OK, the first of these things is some sort of physical arousal… you know, a stimulus.

That’s the first thing, and then second comes the cognitive interpretation part mentioned.

Second, we need to interpret, in our minds of course, we need to interpret what this physical stimulus means.

OK, so one of the things that defines the Two-factor Theory of Emotion is that it has a reliance on your physical state.

Let me explain: you can think of different physical states, right?

Like, maybe her muscles are tired, maybe your hands are shaking. So you see, psychologist recorded that people sometimes perceive that they feel a certain way just because of their physical arousal.

In other words, if I’m shaky in my heart is racing, I think I’m nervous.

I don’t take into account that I could simply be feeling the effects of all the sugar in that chocolate cake I had a while ago.

OK? Does everyone understand?

W: I’m just not sure I see the connection between physical state and emotion. I mean, where does the mind come into it all?

M: Good question. You see, because you think you feel that way-like nervous, for example, even though you really just ate chocolate, you actually begin to feel nervous.

The emotions become real − I mean, yeah, now you’re really nervous − even if it is a false interpretation that initiates them.

They called it cognitive interpretation – basically, how somebody perceives a certain event or set of circumstances.

OK, that’s the theory, but now I’d like to introduce a little surprise.

Yeah, the uh, the theory is not accurate.

And well, as it turned out, it seems that theory overstated the importance of arousal to cause emotions.

People later learned that you do not have to have some physical arousal to feel an emotion.

I mean, think for a minute about, oh, a great day in your life.

Go ahead guys, actually think about it. OK?

Well, I’ll bet one or two of you feels happy right now, huh?

Certainly nothing aroused you physically, you just created an image in your heads.

So in the end, this theory was pretty much considered not to be accurate.

1) How is the discussion organized?

2) How does the professor support the idea that physical conditions affect emotions?

3) Why does the professor mention a surprise?