Lazarus theory of emotion

The term “cognitive theory of emotion” denotes a family of emotion theories, developed mostly in psychology and philosophy, which share the assumption that emotions (the episodic states of persons denoted in everyday language by words like “joy,” “sadness,” “hope,” “fear,” “anger,” “pity,” etc.), or at least a core subset of emotions, presuppose for their existence certain cognitions about the eliciting events. Typically it is assumed that these emotion-relevant cognitions determine, alone or together with noncognitive mental states (in particular, desires), whether or not an event elicits an emotion, the kind of emotion it elicits (e. g., joy, sadness) and the intensity of the elicited emotion (e.g., weak joy, intense joy). • Aristotle. (1980). Rhetorik [Rhetoric]. München: Fink (Original work published 350 b. c.) • Arnold, M. B. (1960). Emotion and personality (Vols. 1 & 2). New York: Columbia University Press. • Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., DeWall, C. N., & Zhang, L. (2007). How emotion shapes behavior: Feedback, anticipation, and reflection, rather than direct causation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 167–203. • Castelfranchi, C., & Miceli, M. (2009). The cognitive-motivational compound of emotional experience. Emotion Review, 1, 223–231. • Deonna, J. A., & Teroni, F. (2012). The emotions. A philosophical introduction. London: Routledge. • Ellsworth, P. C., & Scherer, K. R. (2003). Appraisal processes in emotion. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H....

Last Updated on Fri, 23 Dec 2022 | We will begin with a brief discussion of Lazarus' (1966) early theory before going on to consider his more recent revisions (Lazarus, 1991). In the influential 1966 version, emotion was considered to arise from how individuals construed or appraised their ongoing transactions with the world. Lazarus and his colleagues have also argued (e.g., Folkman & Lazarus, 1980) that secondary appraisal coping processes can be categorised into two main varieties, emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping the individual attempts to deal with the resulting emotional state through, for example, the use of various defence mechanisms. Problem-focused coping is more likely to be used when the situation is appraised as changeable, and therefore the individual attempts to alter the problem that is causing the distress rather than simply coping with the stress itself. The distinction between problem- and emotion-focused strategies has proven extremely useful both in the area of coping and in adjoining areas such as social support (e.g., Power, Champion, & Aris, 1988). In research on depression, for example, it has been found that depressed individuals tend to use more emotion-focused than problem-focused strategies (e.g., Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Furthermore, Nolen-Hoeksema's (1987, 2002) suggestion that the higher rates of depression among women in comparison to men is due to women's use of "ruminative" strategies (see Chap...

Berkeley - Richard S. Lazarus, recently named by the journal "American Psychologist" as one of the most influential psychologists in the history of the field and a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, died on Nov. 24 in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 80 years old and had served on the UC Berkeley faculty since 1957. When word of his death reached the psychology community, there was an outpouring of sentiment from around the world. Richard S. Lazarus (Saxon Donnelly photo) "I remember my many meetings and talks with him. His brilliant contributions to the study of emotion are an important part of the history of psychology," said Meng Zhaolan, past chair of the psychology department at Peking University, China. "Many of the top stress and emotion researchers in Israel today - and there are many included in this fold - owe their career and promotion to Dick's support," said Moshe Zeidner, dean of research at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of Emotions at the University of Haifa, Israel. "I will certainly miss this gentleman and scholar." A graduate of the City College of New York in 1942, Lazarus served for three and a half years in the U.S. Army during World War II. He obtained his doctorate in 1947 from the University of Pittsburgh and subsequently served on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University and Clark University before moving to UC Berkeley to head the clinical psychology program. Lazarus's work influenced psychology...

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The Lazarus Theory of Emotion is a cognitive appraisal theory developed by psychologist Richard S. Lazarus, which posits that emotions are the result of a two-step cognitive process involving the appraisal of a situation and the subsequent interpretation of its personal relevance. According to this theory, our emotions are not solely a product of the situation or stimulus itself, but rather, they depend on our cognitive interpretation and assessment of that situation. • Cognitive appraisal: The first step in the Lazarus Theory of Emotion is cognitive appraisal, which refers to the individual’s evaluation of a situation, event, or stimulus. This appraisal process can be broken down into two components: • Primary appraisal: This involves evaluating the event’s relevance to the individual’s well-being, goals, or values. The individual assesses whether the event is irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful (i.e., threatening, challenging, or harmful). • Secondary appraisal: This involves assessing the individual’s resources, coping abilities, and potential responses to deal with the event. The secondary appraisal helps determine the intensity of the emotional response and the type of coping strategies employed. • Emotional response: The emotional response is the result of the cognitive appraisal process. The individual’s perception of the situation and their evaluation of their ability to cope with it directly influence the type and intensity of the emotion experienced. In oth...

Emotion is a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. Such feelings include physiological arousal, conscious experiences, and behavioral expressions. Emotionality is associated with a range of psychological phenomena, including temperament, Types of Theories of Emotion The major theories of emotion can be grouped into three main categories: Verywell / Jiaqi Zhou Evolutionary Theory of Emotion Naturalist Charles Darwin proposed that emotions evolved because they were adaptive and allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce. Feelings of love and affection lead people to seek mates and reproduce. Feelings of fear compel people to fight or flee the source of danger. According to the evolutionary theory of emotion, our emotions exist because they serve an adaptive role. Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps improve the chances of success and survival. Understanding the emotions of other people and animals also plays a crucial role in safety and survival. If you encounter a hissing, spitting, and clawing animal, chances are you will quickly realize that the animal is frightened or defensive and leave it alone. Being able to interpret correctly the emotional displays of other people and animals allows you to respond correctly and avoid danger. According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, an external stimulus leads to a physiological reaction. Your em...

The immediate environment also plays an important role in how physical responses are identified and labeled. In the example above, the dark, lonely setting and the sudden presence of an ominous stranger contributes to the identification of the emotion as fear. What would happen if you were walking toward your car on a bright sunny day and an elderly woman began to approach you? Rather than feeling fear, you might interpret your physical response as something like curiosity or concern if the woman seemed to be in need of assistance. All of the participants were told that they were being injected with a new drug to test their eyesight. However, one group of participants was informed of the possible side-effects that the injection might cause while the other group of participants was not. Participants were then placed in a room with another participant who was actually a confederate in the experiment. Those who were in a room with the euphoric confederate were more likely to interpret the side effects of the drug as happiness, while those exposed to the angry confederate were more likely to interpret their feelings as anger. Schacter and Singer had hypothesized that if people experienced an emotion for which they had no explanation, they would then label these feelings using their feelings at the moment. • Your boss calls you into their office. They don't tell you why. You start sweating, and you label what you're feeling as "anxious." However, when you meet with them, they s...

Hostname: page-component-594f858ff7-x2rdm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2023-06-16T10:32:54.346Z Has data issue: false Feature Flags: hasContentIssue false Emotion and Adaptation, first published in 1991, is a thorough and scholarly book hypothesising a cognitive theory of emotion. Lazarus has been a pioneer in this field for the past 40 years; he argues that emotions have intentionality and that their significance and force are determined by our cognition. This then creates a judgement as to whether or not we can cope with the external event or situation, which forms an emotional reaction. Lazarus' book helps us understand why emotions are so meaningful to the human race. Drawing together all the related research, it is a centrepiece of work for all those interested in emotion and cognition and applicable to sociologists and psychologists as well as psychiatrists. Lazarus' ideas have attracted my attention as they are, relatively speaking, radical. In today's world the reductionist perspective has dominated explanations for the wonders of the human mind. Mental health conditions have been reduced to chemical imbalances and a pathological structure of the brain, stripping the mind and emotions of all higher meanings. Lazarus proposes a multidimensional appraisal theory of emotion, where an appraisal is an evaluation of an external event. His theory of emotion can be broken down into a sequence: (1) cognitive appraisal, (2) physiological response, and (3) action. Laza...

Berkeley - Richard S. Lazarus, recently named by the journal "American Psychologist" as one of the most influential psychologists in the history of the field and a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, died on Nov. 24 in Walnut Creek, Calif. He was 80 years old and had served on the UC Berkeley faculty since 1957. When word of his death reached the psychology community, there was an outpouring of sentiment from around the world. Richard S. Lazarus (Saxon Donnelly photo) "I remember my many meetings and talks with him. His brilliant contributions to the study of emotion are an important part of the history of psychology," said Meng Zhaolan, past chair of the psychology department at Peking University, China. "Many of the top stress and emotion researchers in Israel today - and there are many included in this fold - owe their career and promotion to Dick's support," said Moshe Zeidner, dean of research at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of Emotions at the University of Haifa, Israel. "I will certainly miss this gentleman and scholar." A graduate of the City College of New York in 1942, Lazarus served for three and a half years in the U.S. Army during World War II. He obtained his doctorate in 1947 from the University of Pittsburgh and subsequently served on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University and Clark University before moving to UC Berkeley to head the clinical psychology program. Lazarus's work influenced psychology...

The Lazarus Theory of Emotion is a cognitive appraisal theory developed by psychologist Richard S. Lazarus, which posits that emotions are the result of a two-step cognitive process involving the appraisal of a situation and the subsequent interpretation of its personal relevance. According to this theory, our emotions are not solely a product of the situation or stimulus itself, but rather, they depend on our cognitive interpretation and assessment of that situation. • Cognitive appraisal: The first step in the Lazarus Theory of Emotion is cognitive appraisal, which refers to the individual’s evaluation of a situation, event, or stimulus. This appraisal process can be broken down into two components: • Primary appraisal: This involves evaluating the event’s relevance to the individual’s well-being, goals, or values. The individual assesses whether the event is irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful (i.e., threatening, challenging, or harmful). • Secondary appraisal: This involves assessing the individual’s resources, coping abilities, and potential responses to deal with the event. The secondary appraisal helps determine the intensity of the emotional response and the type of coping strategies employed. • Emotional response: The emotional response is the result of the cognitive appraisal process. The individual’s perception of the situation and their evaluation of their ability to cope with it directly influence the type and intensity of the emotion experienced. In oth...