Four popular perspectives on emotions are the Organismic View of Emotions, Perceptual View of Emotions, Cognitive Labeling View of Emotions, and the Interactive View of Emotions. Organismic View of Emotions perceives emotions as instinctual. Seeing someone coming towards you with a knife (external stimuli) causes your heart to race and your mind to go blank (physiological arousal) which is observed as the emotion of fear. The Perceptual View of Emotions asserts that subjective perceptions dictate how we respond to situations. A raised fist might be perceived as a threat to one person and a symbol of racial pride to another. The Cognitive Labeling View of Emotions elaborates on the Perceptual View of Emotions by incorporating labels to our physiological responses which influence how we interpret those responses. Trembling hands are labeled according to an individuals perception of the reaction. People who label trembling hands as a sign of excitement will feel excited when their hands tremble. People who label trembling hands as a sign of anxiety will feel anxiety when their hands tremble. The Interactive View of Emotions seems to be the most accurate of the four perspectives introduced in chapter 7. The Interactive View of Emotions incorporates the other three perspectives, elaborates on their concepts, and more importantly focuses on the impact of social factors on emotions; ultimately creating a well-formed 3 concept perspective consisting of: 1.) Framing Rules, 2.) Feeling Rules, 3.) Emotion Work.
1.) Framing Rules: cultural definitions for the emotional meaning of situations (for example funerals are either sad, joyous, somber, celebratory, etc. depending on specific cultural outlooks).
2.) Feeling Rules: what feelings are right or wrong (for example it is wrong to feel resentful for a friend’s good fortune).
3.)Emotion Work: an effort to generate feelings deemed appropriate (for example telling yourself you should be happy for your friend’s good fortune because that is what good friends feel).
This perspective allows us to focus on how we perceive, label, and respond emotionally in our day-to-day lives. We may perceive a young girl’s pregnancy as unfortunate while others may see it as a blessing. We may label strong feelings of aggression as anger while others may label it as frustration. We may respond correctly or incorrectly to situations in our lives; while all people feel anger, not everyone loses their self control. The Interactive View of Emotions allows for growth and improvement and this is why I navigate towards it. I believe that everyone has an opportunity to change for the better, and this perspective seems to be the only one that incorporates the possibility for improvement through its third concept focusing on emotion work.
Xylia, Great post. First reading these terms about emotions was confusing and i did not understand all of them. But after reading your post you thoroughly explained them and helped me apply the terms to situations in my life, which in turn helped me learn the terms!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you talked about the interactive view of emotions and how it allows for growth and improvement. it is a good one to follow because of this! I also agree with you when you talked that everyone is capable of changing into something better. finally after reading your explanation, it does seem as this is the only theory that incorporates the possibility for improvement so again this is a good one to follow.