Theories of emotion
• Theories of emotion have evolved over the last
100+ years.  In the late 19th Century, William
James and Carl Lange developed a theory of
emotion that held that:
– Autonomic responses are reflex reactions that occur
quickly, commencing, and sometimes finishing,
before conscious perception of emotion occurs.
– Emotional experience is the perception that arises
from the autonomic changes.  In other words,
emotional experience follows and reflects autonomic
reactivity.