The James and Lange Theory of Emotion

Aiden Ward

Intro to Philosophy

12/10/23

Section 13

     The James and Lange Theory of emotion is one of the most controversial philosophical topics in the philosophy world. The Theory stems from the two Philosophers William James and Carl Lange and their beliefs combined into one. James's belief was that multiple somatic and visceral responses can prompt emotional experience while Lange believed that emotion was simply a cardiovascular event. 

    

    Although the two had this difference they both still agreed on how emotion did not start with a conscious experience of emotion but how a body would respond to the events around it. This theory, it also led James to believe that there was a universal set of emotions such as anger and sadness, and that each emotion is tied to its own respective physical state. This Theory was definitely more of a constructionist theory for James, which means that there was not really any spirit behind it. 

    Now to explain how the theory works it is pretty simple, for example if a bear or another large animal is running at you, your heart rate might spike and your body might begin to tremble and those bodily actions are tied to the emotion of fear which you would be feeling in that moment. James once said, "A science of the relations of mind and brain must show how the elementary ingredients of the former correspond to the elementary functions of the latter." Behind all the complex wording was how James explained why emotion came from the body and not your consciousness.

Here is a quick YouTube Link to explain how the theory works in a little more detail. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHiMZs2Oe2A

The creation of this theory was mainly thanks to philosophical Psychology which is the systematic study of the interplay between philosophical concerns in the study of cognition. Philosophical Psychologists saw emotion as primary and unanalyzable. So the final theory came out to be that emotion occurs as a result of physical responses to events.

The James and Lange Theory of emotion sparked a new wave of empirical emotional research. One of the theories made was the Cannon-Bard Theory which summarized is a change in emotional state and changes in the automatic nervous system occur simultaneously but independently. This was a long and still ongoing debate that influenced even more theories such as the facial feedback hypothesis which means that someone's facial expression is directly tied to their emotional state. This led to the discovery of a flaw in the James and Lange Theory because if someone started crying due to forcing themselves that does not mean they are experiencing the corresponding emotions. 

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think it is possible to fake emotion based off of this theory?

2. Do you believe emotion is a physical or conciseness thing?