Body Reactions to Emotion Evoking Situations Essay

Body Reactions to Emotion Evoking Situations - Essay Example Since such situations do not arise every day, I decided to use movies to observe that behavior. Movies such as horror movies, soap operas, high-level comedy and thrillers are known for eliciting emotional responses in the audience. So one Friday evening, I decided to go to a cinema to watch a movie where a horror movie called The Ruins was to show that night. At a round 8pm, I entered the cinema hall. It was dark inside which was an excellent atmosphere for such a movie as the effect on the audience was sure to be profound. I looked for some space and, lucky enough, I got myself sandwiched between a lady and a man. This was excellent as I could be able to observe the response of a man and a lady simultaneously and compare the results. That Friday evening was the beginning of a number of visits to the cinema hall, where I watched movies like Anaconda, The Wrong Turn, Piranha, soap operas like In the Name of Love, Storm Over Paradise and Triumph Of Love and thrillers like 24 and Sparta cus. In all these situations, I observed the responses among different people and their body reactions. I also made some observations on myself on how my body reacted. This research was carried out with reference to the literature that explains the relationship between the body and emotions; how the body reacts to different emotions. ... The body’s reaction to shock is different from the body’s reaction to anger. Moreover, different body parts are involved in the reaction of different emotions, although the face is the dominant part in the expression of emotions.. Psychologists attribute most physical health problems like backache to emotions, especially emotional stress. Prinz (2006) asserts that if we understand how the various body parts relate to certain emotions, we can be able to understand our subconscious. This can help in healing diseases related to emotions as understanding our subconscious helps in knowing the root cause of the problem. Several theories have been developed by scientists on the way emotions are generated and the body reactions to such emotions. One such theory that was advanced to explain the relationship between the body’s reactions and emotions was developed basing on the study by an American scientist by the name William James and a Danish scientist called Carl Lange . Studying independently, the two scientists asserted that two factors determine the feeling of an emotion: the reaction of the body and how a person understands that reaction after an event. William and Lange believed that changes in the body occur before the interpretation of the changes. The two are what constitute emotion. The study by Lange and James led to development of theory called James Lange theory (William and McDermott, 1978). Other theories that have since been developed to explain the same include the theory by Cannon and Bard and also by American scientists, Singer and Schacter. Bard and Cannon made use of the nervous system to explain how emotions are generated and the response of the body to such emotions. They assert that the body reacts