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William James and the Mechanisms of Emotional Experience

Frances Hiatt School of Psychology Clark University

Charles Bresler

California School of Professional Psychology Fresno, California

William James proposed that emotional behavior is antecedent to emotional experience. The most distinctive empirical implication of James's model is that manipulations of emotional behaviors should lead to corresponding changes in self-reports of emotion. Numerous studies confirm this prediction for manipulations of facial expressions. Although the evidence is more limited, studies involving manipulations of autonomic arousal and instrumental behavior also support James's model Despite support for James's central premise that emotional behavior may be viewed as preceding emotional experience, empirical work suggests the need for refinements of James's model, particularly regarding the processes by which emotional experience is generated. The evidence is more consistent with the view that through a self-perception process individuals "construct" their emotional experience from a variety of sources, including physiological responses, expressive behavior, instrumental behavior, and contextual elements. Furthermore, there is evidence suggesting differences among individuals in the specific sources (i.e., physiological responses, contextual information) that are most critical in this construction process.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 4, 636-651 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167290164005


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