James Lange Theory

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The James Lange theory of body reactions states that feelings are side effects of physical processes. The basic idea of ​​this emotion theory was already found in various older authors, e. B. René Descartes , Aristotle , Hermann Lotze and Spinoza . However, it was only through William James ' work What is an Emotion? (1884) popular. Almost at the same time, but independently of James, the Danish physiologist Carl Lange published a book ( Ueber Gemüthsbewegung , 1885) that looked at emotions in a similar way, which is why both coined the name of the theory.

Basic statement

According to James, feelings are the result of visceral changes (cf. Lange: vasomotor reactions), which usually occur reflexively when perceiving emotion-triggering facts, but this only applies to coarser emotions such as anger, love, joy, fear and pride, which with relative severe physical symptoms. In addition, instrumental actions are characteristic of certain emotions. For the fact that, according to James' biological emotion theory, in contrast to later cognitive emotion theories (including the two-factor theory of emotion by Stanley Schachter and Gregorio Marañón ) (also called appraisal theories), no additional processes of mental processing are responsible for triggering emotions , speak according to James three facts that he grasped introspectively:

  • An emotion-triggering object is evaluated only after it has occurred.
  • The evaluation can be in contrast to the emotion.
  • It does happen that emotions occur without an evaluation taking place.

The reflex-like triggering also implies that feelings can be experienced through the mere presentation of emotion-triggering situations, instrumental action or through involuntary physical reactions such as facial expressions, which is referred to in modern psychology as the feedback effect.

In 1884, James refined the original version of his theory of emotions to address numerous points of criticism, including: a. 1893 by William Leonard Worcester (1845-1901), who was of the opinion that the mere perception of an emotion-triggering situation was insufficient and that arbitrary actions could not evoke specific emotions. James countered that the visceral reactions of the body were not triggered by perception, but by a latent idea of ​​the vital element of the situation, and that specific emotions had to be precisely differentiated. For example, the fear of an attacking bear should not be equated with the fear of failure in an exam. Real emotions only occur if the visceral changes in the body are of a diffuse nature and unspecific (in contrast to, for example, shivering or hunger, which are not to be counted as feelings in the true sense). In addition, visceral changes in the development of emotions are of far greater importance than instrumental reactions.

criticism

General time sensitive notes

The James Lange Theory can be seen as the forerunner of behaviorism . However, psychological concept formation is actually alien to the primarily behavioral perspective, since psychological facts tend to be explained more on the basis of directly empirical data. John B. Watson (1878-1958) is considered to be the founder of behaviorism with his 1919 book " Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist ". James represented a Darwinian -style functionalism . Watson received his professional training at the Center of American Functionalism, at the University of Chicago . His teacher at this university was James Rowland Angell (1869-1949). For his part, Angell was a student of James (1842-1910).

Cannon's criticism

Perhaps precisely because of its counterintuitive character, Walter Cannon (1871–1945) and Philip Bard (1898–1977) ( Cannon-Bard theory ) tried in the following years to refute this theory of emotions , as in their opinion there were some findings that the James -Lange theory could not explain. These were in detail:

  • A separation of the viscera from the central nervous system does not result in any restrictions in emotional experience. This has been demonstrated by Cannon through experiments on dogs and cats by cutting the spinal cord but not seeing any emotional change.
  • The viscera is too insensitive to cause strong physiological excitement.
  • Changes in the viscera take too long to be used as a reason for the sudden onset of emotions.
  • Many emotions have the same physiological arousal pattern, which is why the perception of the physiological arousal does not allow any specific assignment.
  • The artificial induction of the emotion-specific arousal patterns does not result in a perceived emotion, but only a kind of cold arousal state (whereby Cannon referred to Maranon's adrenaline experiments, which later also served Schachter for the development of his two-factor theory of emotion)

Cannon accordingly questioned both sufficient and necessary causes of the James Lange theory and offered an alternative, self-conceived theory.

Neo-Jamesian theories

Even in the 1970s it was argued that at least part of the James Lange theory was correct. During this time, the neo-Jamesian theories of emotions were founded, which postulate that physical changes and their perception are an important component in the development of emotions, and the most prominent representative of which is probably Silvan Tomkins , who assumed that subcortical programs existed for the fundamental emotions are essential. If these programs are played, changes in facial expressions and gestures as well as in the viscera take place and it is precisely the perception of these changes that ensures that the person becomes aware of his emotions.

Since the 1990s, theoretical concepts such as the somatic marker hypothesis , according to which emotions are derived from the interoceptive perception of physical states , have been increasingly developed . The facial feedback hypothesis assumes that facial expressions and facial expressions influence the experience of emotions; the theory of power posing , which has recently been criticized, assumes this for postures.

literature

  • W.-U. Meyer, A. Schützewohl, R. Reisenzein: Introduction to Emotional Psychology . Volume 1. 2nd edition. Hans Huber Verlag, Bern 2001, Chapter 3
  • WL Worcester: Observations on Some Points in James's Psychology. II. Emotion. In: The Monist 3 (2), 1893, p. 287. 8.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter R. Hofstätter (Ed.): Psychology . The Fischer Lexicon, Fischer-Taschenbuch, Frankfurt a. M. 1972, ISBN 3-436-01159-2 ; Pp. 70–72 on the lemma “behaviorism”.