this is (not) psychology

Theories about emotions

It has always been assumed that the first thing that happens is that we have the experience an emotion, and then and only then do we start reacting to the situation physiologically. But over a hundred years ago, William James, the father of American psychology, and Carl Lange, a Danish psychologist, separately introduced the idea that we have it all backwards: First, they said, we have physiological responses to a situation, and only then do we use those responses to formulate an experience of emotion. This is called the James-Lange theory.

Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard came up with a variation on the James-Lange idea in 1929: They suggested that there are neural paths from our senses that go in two directions. One goes to the cortex, where we have a subjective experience, and one goes to the hypothalamus, where the physiological processes begin. In other words, the experience of an emotion, and the physiological responses occur together. This is (as you might expect by now) called the Cannon-Bard theory.

In 1937, James Papez noted that the physiological side of emotion is not just a matter of the hypothalamus, but is a complex network of neural pathways — the Papez circuit. In 1949, Paul McLean completed and corrected Papez’s ideas, and called the larger complex the limbic system, which is what we call it today. It included the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, and the amygdala, and is tightly connected with the cingulate gyrus, the ventral tegmental area of the brain stem, the septum, and the prefrontal gyrus.

Paul McLean is also the founder of the triune brain theory. He suggested that there is a certain evolutionary quality to the structure of the brain. Reptiles, he said, function entirely in terms of instinct, and their brains are little more than what we call the brain stem in people. He called it the archipallium or reptilian brain, and it includes the medulla, cerebellum, the pons, and the olfactory bulbs. Above this is the paleopallium, or old mammalian brain. This is the limbic system and the portions of the brain we call the old cortex. Of course, this adds emotions to the reptilian picture, and allows for simple learning. And on top of the paleopallium is the neopallium (aka new mammalian or rational brain, or neocortex). This is where more advanced activities occur, including awareness. McLean adds that, in human beings, these three “brains” don’t always behave cooperatively, which leads to some of the unique problems we have!

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