Emotion needs both undifferentiated arousal and a cognitive label, so the same bodily state reads as different emotions depending on context.
Schachter and Singer's 1962 adrenaline study: subjects given the same injection reported euphoria or anger depending on how a confederate behaved. Shares its name with Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation, which is unrelated.
In practice
- A candidate whose heart is racing before an interview reads it as dread in one building and as anticipation in another.
- Two passengers in the same turbulence, one told it is routine and one told nothing, report irritation and fear from an identical set of sensations.
- Standing
- Shares its name with Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation, which is unrelated.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- Theories of the mind, from the lab to the bookshop