NOTE: if you haven't read my welcome yet, you might want to read that before reading this post.
When studying emotion recently I found an item of evidence for this theory to be rather amusing. The theory is the one stated in the title, and the official definition is that the intensity of the physiological state--that is, the degree of sympathetic nervous system arousal--determines the intensity of the emotion, but a cognitive appraisal of the situation identifies the type of the emotion. In other words, since how the body responds (sweating, heart-rate, etc.) to two very different emotions (i.e. fear & euphoria) it requires a mental analysis of the situation to decide which emotion you are experiencing. Then once your brain has decided which emotion it is experiencing, the degree to which heart is beating or you are sweating tells your brain how intense the emotion is. The main idea behind this is that emotions are fairly automatic.
Psychologists have actually done quite a few laboratory studies to show that this seems to be true to a degree.
Here is where the funny part comes in. This section in my reading ended with this review question: "you are going on a first date with someone you hope will find you exciting. According to Schachter and Singer's theory, should you plan a date walking through an art gallery or riding on roller coasters?"
(If you read the whole section out of my text, I'm sure you'd know the answer, but in case I didn't do a good job explaining it here is the answer: "according to Schachter and Singer's theory, you should plan a date riding roller coasters. If your date gets emotionally excited, he or she may attribute the arousal to you.")
So, my question to all of you is whether or not your early dates as a couple match the theory.
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This post goes along with a show that was on nbc called the science of love. It was on a few weeks ago for the first time but it has not been on since so maybe they dropped it but anyway... they said that through science they could pick the perfect match for someone. So they scientifically found a girl through all kinds of genetic testing and stuff and then let a guy pick a girl the way he normally would through elimination and then he took them both on a date. The first date was with the girl he picked and he planned the date the way he normally would and the second date was with their scientific pick and the scientists and psychologists planned the date. So the first date was dinner and dancing and the second date was bungee jumping from a huge crane. And in the end he said he felt a bigger connection with the girl they picked for him so it proved their theory. Anyway, maybe the show will be on again and you can watch it. It all makes sense though. Sorry this was so long and hopefully it made sense.
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