Perspectives of Emotion

The perceptual view of emotions, otherwise known as the appraisal theory makes the most sense to me. This view states that our emotions are based on the way we perceive a certain situation or experience and how we react to those situations. From these experiences, we learn what we think is considered normal and appropriate. Thus, we only have emotions if attach some sort of importance to these external situations and physiological reactions. This makes the most sense to me because like the common saying, “the less you care, the less hurt you will get”, until we attach significance to something, will it actually have an impact on us and bring out our emotions. I also agreed with the physiological view of emotion, but I think the perceptual view explains it more thoroughly. I did not really understand the cognitive view of perception, for it did not make sense that we can change our emotions simply through language. I think that when something causes an emotion, it shows that is how we truly feel about it and I think it would be hard to really change those emotions. I agree that if we talk to someone, it can help us feel better about a situation, but in the end, we can not help how we feel.