PSYC 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Deeper Understanding, Terror Management Theory, Ventromedial Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus

• School: UBC
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 102
• Professor: Darko Odic

Document Summary

It is hard to define emotions, because emotions are to be experienced (just how you cannot describe the color green to a blind man) People can describe emotions by saying how similar one experience is to the other (love is more like happiness than like anger. Emotional experiences differ on two dimensions called valence (how positive or negative the experience is) and arousal (how active or passive the experience is). Research shows that all emotional experiences can be described by their unique coordinates on this two-dimensional map. Emotion - a positive or a negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity (bodily arousal). William james stated bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact. Psychologist charl lange suggested something similar, and together, the idea became known as. James-lange theory the theory that a stimulus triggers activity in the body, which in turn produces an emotional experience in the brain.