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The James–Lange theory is a hypothesis on the origin and nature of emotions and is one of the earliest theories of emotion within modern psychology. It was developed by philosopher John Dewey and named for two 19th-century scholars, William James and Carl Lange (see modern criticism for more on the theory's origin). The basic premise of the theory is that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion. Previously people considered emotions as reactions to some significant events or their features, i.e. events come first, and then there is an emotional response. James-Lange theory proposed that the state of the body can induce emotions or emotional dispositions. In other words, this theory suggests that when we feel teary, it generates a disposition for sad emotions; when our heartbeat is out of normality, it makes us feel anxiety. Instead of feeling an emotion and subsequent physiological (bodily) response, the theory proposes that the physiological change is primary, and emotion is then experienced when the brain reacts to the information received via the body's nervous system. It proposes that each specific category of emotion is attached to a unique and different pattern of physiological arousal and emotional behaviour in reaction due to an exciting stimulus. The theory has been criticized and modified over the course of time, as one of several competing theories of emotion. Modern theorists have built on its ideas by proposing that the experience of emotion is modulated by both physiological feedback and other information, rather than consisting solely of bodily changes, as James suggested. Psychologist Tim Dalgleish states that most modern affective neuroscientists would support such a viewpoint. In 2002, a research paper on the autonomic nervous system stated that the theory has been "hard to disprove". Theory Emotions are often assumed to be judgments about a situation that cause feelings and physiological changes. In 1884, psychologist and philosopher William James proposed that physiological changes actually precede emotions, which are equivalent to our subjective experience of physiological changes, and are experienced as feelings. In his words, "our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion." James argued: If we fancy some strong emotion, and then try to abstract from our consciousness of it all the feelings of its characteristic bodily symptoms, we find we have nothing left behind, no "mind-stuff" out of which the emotion can be constituted, and that a cold and neutral state of intellectual perception is all that remains. … What kind of an emotion of fear would be left, if the feelings neither of quickened heart-beats nor of shallow breathing, neither of trembling lips nor of weakened limbs, neither of goose-flesh nor of visceral stirrings, were present, it is quite impossible to think. Can one fancy the state of rage and picture no ebullition of it in the chest, no flushing of the face, no dilatation of the nostrils, no clenching of the teeth, no impulse to vigorous action, but in their stead limp muscles, calm breathing, and a placid face? The present writer, for one, certainly cannot. The rage is as completely evaporated as the sensation of its so-called manifestations. Physician Carl Lange developed similar ideas independently in 1885. Both theorists defined emotion as a feeling of physiological changes due to a stimulus, but the theorists focused on different aspects of emotion. Although James did talk about the physiology associated with an emotion, he was more focused on conscious emotion and the conscious experience of emotion. For example, a person who is crying reasons that he must be sad. Lange reinterpreted James's theory by operationalizing it. He made James's theory more testable and applicable to real life examples. However, both agreed that if physiological sensations could be removed, there would be no emotional experience. In other words, physiological arousal causes emotion. According to James, when an individual is aware of their body's physiological arousal and emotional behavior their emotions are shown. He did not think the idea of common sense reactions were real but that each emotion triggered a specific physiological response. For instance, when someone hears breaking glass and they think someone is breaking in, if their heart starts pounding and they begin trembling, James would argue that they are experiencing this physiological reaction because they feel fear of a would-be burglar. Or, if the person heard glass breaking and thought it was their roommate being careless and clumsy, they would have a pounding heart and raised blood pressure due to their subject anger, according to James. James argues that the sequence of events in experiencing emotion is: Emotion stimulus → Physiological Response Pattern → Affective Experience. The theory itself emphasizes how physiological arousal, with the exclusion of emotional behavior, is the determiner of emotional feelings. It also emphasizes that each emotional feeling has a distinct, unique pattern of physiological responses associated with it. It must meet two criteria which include (a) at least two emotions should be induced and (b) the presence of any emotion should be verified using other measures such as facial expressions or verbal reports. An example would be conducting an experiment to measure happiness and anger. One study is measuring happiness but giving rewards sporadically throughout the experiment while the other study is measuring anger by giving the participants a very difficult cross word puzzle to solve. Their physiological responses will be measured - which are blood pressure and electrodermal responses. Verbal and facial expressions will also be examined to determine either happiness or anger. According to James, the results will show that the physiological patterns, the blood pressure and electrodermal responses, will show different patterns for the different emotions. Further researchers have also found that there are a few specific physiological differences among discrete emotions. For example, research has shown that heart rate is always higher in people experiencing anger and fear rather than those who are experiencing happiness or even sadness. It also shows that blood pressure is also higher in those experiencing anger than those experiencing fear, sadness and happiness. It also showed that electrodermal responses were higher in people experiencing fear rather than during sadness. But there were also times when the physiological patterns wouldn't differentiate which concludes that this theory is not 100% accurate and that there was not a unique pattern for each basic and distinct emotion. Which led them to blame the autonomic nervous system because the autonomic nervous system responds in a global fashion rather than showing those distinct reactions in an emotion-inducing situation and people also generally only notice changes in.... 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