Chapter 1. Emotion Equals Arousal Plus Interpretation

Short Description

Drugs such as coffee, nicotine, and alcohol change both our brain chemistry and how we feel.

Long Description

Drugs such as coffee, nicotine, and alcohol change both our brain chemistry and how we feel. Indeed drugs, claims researcher, Harriet de Wit, can be used as a tool in studying emotion because they stimulate the limbic system, which is normally activated whenever we experience an emotion in everyday life.

In de Wit’s study, research participants are given an amphetamine; a drug that stimulates neural activity. Two of the volunteers are told they have been given an inactive, placebo pill. Two others are informed that they have received a stimulant. If changes in biochemistry are the sole source of our emotional experience, all the participants should experience the same emotion regardless of whether they know they have taken a drug or not.

Thirty minutes into the experiment, all the participants experience arousal. Those who know that they received a stimulant are up, out of their chairs and active. They report positive feelings. In contrast, the unsuspecting subjects are less active and they experience the arousal more negatively. Clearly, the research participants’ expectations shaped their experience and behavior.

Basic physiological responses are only part of our emotional experience, concludes de Wit. Our understanding and interpretation of the situation shape our specific feelings.

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