Biological Explanations Of Emotion Essay

Emotion is a difficult concept to define within psychology due to two different perspectives that should be considered being cognitive and biological. The cognitive perspective suggests that emotion is based more on the factors of the mental processes. The biological perspective suggests that emotion is influenced by biological systems and performances and is based on physiological responses. It has been suggested that there is a possible interaction between cognitive and biological processes that influence emotions. Le Doux’s theory of the biological pathways focuses solely on the biological explanation of emotion, whilst Lazarus’s theory focuses on the cognitive aspect by suggesting the idea of cognitive appraisals. It has been suggested that there are three components that includes physiological changes, which includes the arousal of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system that are unconscious. Furthermore, an individual’s subjective feeling of emotion and associated behaviour.

The biological theory focuses on the particular parts of the brain that are thought to be involved within emotional processes. The amygdala, within the temporal lobe, is thought to be important within emotions since studies have suggested
The short route begins at the thalamus and goes directly to the amygdala; whereas, the long route passes the neocortex and hippocampus before reaching the amygdala. The amygdala receives input from sensory processing area within the neocortex and thalamus, which is then projected to areas within the brainstem – such areas of the brain determine how individual’s respond to the stimuli, which can be the fight to flight response. Such biological connections make is possible for the amygdala to initiate emotional signals as a result of the sensory