Epinephrine, Arousal, and Emotion: A New Look at Two-factor Theory

This study addressed criticisms of Schachter and Singer's classic experiment on determinants of emotional state. Twenty-six male students were given a titrated injection of either epinephrine or saline and misinformed about symptoms. Subjects then viewed six film clips which are known to induce anger, fear, or amusement. Physiological responses to the film clips were measured and facial expressions were recorded. Subjects also rated their emotional responses to the film clips. Epinephrine subjects demonstrated greater physiological arousal and emotional intensity, phenomenologically and facially, than control subjects. For the fear films, epinephrine subjects expressed more fear than control subjects. Epinephrine and control subjects did not differ on expressed anger to the anger films or amusement to the amusement films. N onvalenced arousal was consistently rated more intense by epinephrine subjects than control subjects.

[1]  P. Venables,et al.  Direct measurement of skin conductance: a proposal for standardization. , 1971, Psychophysiology.

[2]  P. Venables,et al.  Publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. , 1981 .

[3]  D B Newlin,et al.  Pre-ejection period: measuring beta-adrenergic influences upon the heart. , 1979, Psychophysiology.

[4]  J. Gross,et al.  Emotion elicitation using films , 1995 .

[5]  B. C. Lacey,et al.  THE LAW OF INITIAL VALUE IN THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AUTONOMIC CONSTITUTION: REPRODUCIBILITY OF AUTONOMIC RESPONSES AND RESPONSE PATTERNS OVER A FOUR‐YEAR INTERVAL * , 1962, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[6]  Philip G. Zimbardo,et al.  Affective consequences of inadequately explained physiological arousal. , 1979 .

[7]  A F Ax,et al.  A critique of Determinants of Emotional State by Schachter and Singer (1962). , 1967, Psychophysiology.

[8]  E. Katkin,et al.  Blood, sweat, and tears: individual differences in autonomic self-perception. , 1985, Psychophysiology.

[9]  J. Singer,et al.  Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. , 1962 .

[10]  R. Reisenzein.  The Schachter theory of emotion: two decades later. , 1983, Psychological bulletin.

[11]  P. Lang,et al.  Relationship between facial expressiveness and sympathetic activation in emotion: a critical review, with emphasis on modeling underlying mechanisms and individual differences. , 1992, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  J. Fahrenberg,et al.  Methodological guidelines for impedance cardiography. , 1990, Psychophysiology.

[13]  G. Erdmann,et al.  Interaction between physiological and cognitive determinants of emotions: Experimental studies on Schachter's theory of emotions , 1978, Biological Psychology.

[14]  R. Kelsey,et al.  An evaluation of the ensemble averaged impedance cardiogram. , 1990, Psychophysiology.