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The Substrates and Functions of Emotion Feelings

William James and Current Emotion Theory

University of Delaware

Most psychologists identify James's theory of emotion with the idea that we experience emotion because we act, for example, feel angry because we strike. Yet, the idea about emotions that was most central to James's psychology was his concept of emotion as feeling. He argued that when consciousness and cognition are without feeling, they are "void of human significance. " James's emphasis on expressive behavior as the source of sensory data for emotion experience inspired the contemporary facial feedback hypothesis of emotion activation. Many emotion theorists can find roots in James's writings, but his emphasis on the significance of feeling in giving meaning and direction to cognition and action has probably had its greatest impact on those who emphasize the motivational features of emotions. Behavioral scientists have overlooked James's conviction that feelings are central to personality and individuality and the best means of explaining the behaviors of everyday life.

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