Emotions are psychophysiological experiences that we go through as a result of our interaction with the environment, which directly influence our skiing behavior. To explain them there are various theories concentrated in three main categories. Physiological theories propose that emotions are due to our body’s inner responses; neurological theories postulate that they are due to our brain activity; and cognitive theories maintain that thoughts influence our emotional activation.
The dualistic interpretation considers that the only difference lies in the intervention of effects and causes: emotion is a cause and physical manifestations are the effects, say some; physical manifestations are the cause and emotion is the effect, say others.
Another aspect that lends itself to discussion is the cognition-emotion relationship. Here again two points of view recur: the Zajonc & Lazarus position holds that situations must first be cognized before being evaluated; while James & Lange asserts that to clearly perceive cognitive acts these must be preceded by emotions and feelings.
Main theories of emotion
The Peripheral theory of William James and Carl Lange considers the role of the physiological aspect in the activation of our emotional process. According to this theory, peripheral changes occur immediately after the perception of the stimulus and it is our appreciation of these changes that constitutes the emotion. In other words, emotions would be the result of our physiological reactions to skiing situations experienced by us, i.e., increased heart and respiratory rate, perspiration, stomach discomfort, muscle tension, and other responses of the nervous system are physical reactions that generate emotional reactions such as fear or anger.
In James’ words, “My thesis is that bodily changes directly follow the perception of the event, and that our sensation of those same changes as they occur IS the emotion.” He continues “…we feel sad because we cry, angry because we punch, or scared because we tremble; it is not that we cry, punch, or tremble because we are sad, angry, or scared, as one might expect.”
Cognitive appraisal theory is pioneered by Richard Lazarus and proposes that the sequence of facing a stimulus is followed by the generation of a thought that produces the experience of a physiological response and leads to a given emotion. Thus, a thought must arise as a trigger for the emotion. For example, if we are confronted with a complex terrain, we may think that we are in danger, which could lead us to feel fear and experience physical reactions related to behavioral avoidance responses.
The adaptive function of emotion is recognized here and it is argued that cognition is an indispensable condition through the appraisal of changes between us and the environment. The prior cognitive process would be composed of our disposition and the situational factors of the environment. By evaluating a situation as dangerous, familiar, appealing, acceptable, threatening, neutral, or advantageous, we take responsibility for our emotions. It is not something that just happens to us, but emotions arise from the evaluative judgments we make of a given situation, especially from the evaluation of events of a certain intensity related to ourselves.
Although not all judgments are transformed into emotions, evaluating is something we would actively do. Evaluation is composed of rational and possibly deliberate judgments, whereas the emotional response to unexpected situations is immediate and non-deliberate. According to these postulates, fear would be produced by our perception of the threatening situation and our emotion would be the bodily change: we would slow down because we are afraid, but would not experience fear by the mere act of slowing down.
In short, a stimulus generates a physiological response, which produces the sensation of peripheral changes resulting in an emotion. For example, we descend a mogul slope that is above our technical level (stimulus), perceive a physiological reaction (breathing increases, heart rate rises, and suffer a generalized body tension), then experience an unpleasant sensation (anguish of falling and getting hurt) which is considered as the emotion.
The Evolutionary theory postulates that emotions collaborate in our adaptation to the mountain environment promoting the rapidity to act as well as improving our probabilities of success. The first classification of emotions based on facial and body expressions was constituted by Charles Darwin. Based on this theory, other researchers developed the Theory of fundamental emotions, from which five universal emotions related to five adaptive behaviors are taken: sadness as readaptation; anger as destruction; joy as reproduction; disgust as rejection; and fear as protection.
The Cognitive-physiological theory arises from Schachter and Singer’s proposal in that our interaction between cognitive evaluation (appreciation of the situation) and physiological activity (bodily changes) generate and define a particular emotional state. Generally, emotion would be produced after evaluating a stimulus, but also when there would be a physiological activation independent of cognition. In this case, we try to label what we are experiencing (cognitive label). Other scholars argue that cognition alone would be sufficient to provoke an emotional state, considering that our evaluation of the situation alone would generate the emotion based on previous emotional schemas possessed by us.
According to psychologist George Mandler, the physiological activation that prepares us to experience and express the emotion is part of it, but in a secondary way since it is our cognitive system that establishes it. Not everyone feels the physiological activation since it depends on the intensity with which it manifests itself and even then we may not realize it since our attention is oriented towards the situation itself. In general, there are two types of situations in which this activation occurs: in unexpected situations and in those that are expected but do not occur.
