The Cannon-Bard theory of emotions

Emotions are psychophysiological reactions that we all experience in our day to day: joy, sadness, anger... To a large extent, these govern our decisions and lead us to choose paths and to discard others. They also influence our behavior and thoughts.

The genesis of emotions has been explained from many points of view: biological, physiological, psychological... Here we will know the Cannon-Bard theory, a psychophysiological theory that proposes that emotion prepares the individual to act and adapt to the environment.

• Related article: "Emotional psychology: main theories of emotion"

Bradford Cannon and Philip Bard

In the early 1900s, Walter Bradford Cannon (1871-1945), a physiologist and scientist at Harvard University, proposed a theory that explained the origin of emotions. In addition, he made a series of criticisms of the preceding and dominant theory of the moment, the peripheral theory of James-Lange.

On the other hand, Philip Bard (1898 - 1977), an American physiologist, also joined the Cannon theory, and together they formulated the Cannon-Bard theory.

Cannon-Bard theory: characteristics

Cannon's (1927) and Bard's (1938) theory is based on a psychophysiological approach. According to the authors, emotion precedes behaviors and prepares the organism to conduct a fight or flight response to emergency environmental situations. For example, "we cry because we feel sad."

That is, the emotion occurs before the physiological responses. After the emotion and from there, an alarm reaction is triggered by such extreme situations.

On the other hand, Cannon and Bard suggest that the subject will always tend to seek balance and adapt to the environment to situations.

Cannon and Bard, through their experiments, emphasized the role of the brain in producing physiological responses and feelings. These experiments substantially supported his theory of emotion.

In addition, they considered emotion as a cognitive event. They posited that all physical reactions are the same for different emotions, and therefore, that on the basis of physiological signals (only) we could not distinguish emotions from others.

• You may be interested in: "The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)"

Precedents: James-Lange peripheral theory

Before the Cannon-Bard theory, the James-Lange theory prevailed. This is the peripheral theory of James-Lange. According to this, the perception of bodily changes generates the emotional experience (That is, following the previous example, it would be "to be sad because we cry".

According to James-Lange, the sequence would be the following: we observe a stimulus (for example, a sad face), this information is sent to the cortex, then visceral and motor physiological responses appear (we cry). Then the cortex perceives the sensations of crying and generates the feeling (in this case, sadness).

Cannon–Bard experiments

Through their experiments, Cannon and Bard determined that the perception of the emotion aroused by the stimuli originates two phenomena: the conscious experience of emotion and general physiological changes. All this originates because the thalamus sends its impulses to the cerebral cortex and the hypothalamus.

effects of emotions

On the other hand, the Cannon-Bard theory states that conscious emotional experiences, physiological reactions, and behavior are relatively independent events.

Thus, according to the authors, emotional stimuli have two independent excitatory effects: on the one hand, they cause the feeling of emotion in the brain, and on the other, the expression of emotion in the autonomic and somatic nervous systems.

Cannon and Bard's criticisms of James-Lange

The Cannon-Bard theory makes a series of criticisms of the James-Lange theory. These are the following:

1. Bodily changes are not essential to perceive emotion

Furthermore, Cannon and Bard argue that cutting the afferent pathways does not produce changes in the emotional responses.

2. There are no specific patterns of emotions

According to Cannon and Bard, what actually happens is that certain bodily changes are similar for different emotions.

3. Sometimes bodily sensations occur after emotion

That is to say, that bodily sensations, being slower, often manifest after experiencing the emotion (which can be immediate).

4. Voluntary activation of the organism

When the organism is activated voluntarily, no real emotion appears.

5. Diffuse and general activation

The Cannon-Bard theory proposes a diffuse and general autonomous activation (it is therefore a central theory with a substrate in the thalamus); On the other hand, the James-Lange theory, which is peripheral, defends that each emotional state causes specific physiological changes.

Bibliographic references:

• Aguado, L. (2005). Emotion, affection and motivation. Chap. 1: Introduction to the study of emotion (17-48). Alliance: Madrid.
• Diaz, a. (2010). Theories of emotions. Innovation and educational experiences, 29.
• Fernandez, E.G.; Garcia, B.; Jimenez, M.P.; Martin, M.D. and Dominguez, F.J. (2010). Psychology of emotion. Ramón Areces University Editorial: Madrid.
• The Psychology Notes, HQ. (2013). Cannon–Bard Theory of Emotion. Online Resources for Psychology Students.