What makes an emotion?
Connect bodily changes, felt experience, appraisal and expression.
The picture in words
- Experience
- The subjective feeling of the emotional episode.
- Body
- Physical responses such as changes in heart rate.
- Appraisal
- The meaning a situation has for the person.
- Expression
- How the emotion is shown through voice, posture or other behavior.
Reading the illustration
The connections show components influencing one another. Theories of emotion ask how their timing and causal relationships work.
Try a question
How could two people interpret a racing heart before a presentation?
Show the explanation
One might connect it with excitement and another with fear. Context and appraisal help explain the different experiences.
Read the sources
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/10-4-emotionSelected introductory passages inspected