James–Lange theory of emotion
E171003
The James–Lange theory of emotion is a psychological theory proposing that emotions arise from the perception of physiological changes in the body, such as increased heart rate or sweating, rather than causing those changes.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| James–Lange theory of emotion canonical | 2 |
| William James’s 1884 paper "What is an Emotion?" | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1489095 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James–Lange theory of emotion Context triple: [William James, notableIdea, James–Lange theory of emotion]
-
A.
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is Charles Darwin’s influential 1872 work that explores how human and animal emotional expressions evolved and are biologically rooted.
-
B.
Principles of Physiological Psychology
Principles of Physiological Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt’s foundational work that helped establish psychology as an experimental and scientific discipline by linking mental processes to physiological mechanisms.
-
C.
The Emotion Machine
The Emotion Machine is a 2006 book by artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky that explores how human thinking and emotions can be understood as computational processes of the mind.
-
D.
A Theory of Human Motivation
A Theory of Human Motivation is the seminal 1943 paper by psychologist Abraham Maslow that introduced the hierarchy of needs as a framework for understanding human behavior and motivation.
-
E.
Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind
Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind is an influential 1829 work of associationist psychology and philosophy by James Mill that systematically examines mental processes through the principles of association.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James–Lange theory of emotion Target entity description: The James–Lange theory of emotion is a psychological theory proposing that emotions arise from the perception of physiological changes in the body, such as increased heart rate or sweating, rather than causing those changes.
-
A.
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is Charles Darwin’s influential 1872 work that explores how human and animal emotional expressions evolved and are biologically rooted.
-
B.
Principles of Physiological Psychology
Principles of Physiological Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt’s foundational work that helped establish psychology as an experimental and scientific discipline by linking mental processes to physiological mechanisms.
-
C.
The Emotion Machine
The Emotion Machine is a 2006 book by artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky that explores how human thinking and emotions can be understood as computational processes of the mind.
-
D.
A Theory of Human Motivation
A Theory of Human Motivation is the seminal 1943 paper by psychologist Abraham Maslow that introduced the hierarchy of needs as a framework for understanding human behavior and motivation.
-
E.
Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind
Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind is an influential 1829 work of associationist psychology and philosophy by James Mill that systematically examines mental processes through the principles of association.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
psychological theory
ⓘ
somatic theory of emotion ⓘ theory of emotion ⓘ |
| addresses | relationship between physiological arousal and subjective feeling ⓘ |
| assumes |
distinct physiological patterns for different emotions
ⓘ
perception of bodily change is necessary for emotion ⓘ |
| category |
emotion theory
ⓘ
history of psychology ⓘ mind–body theories ⓘ |
| claims | emotional labels are applied after bodily changes are perceived ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
Cannon–Bard theory of emotion
ⓘ
Schachter–Singer two-factor theory of emotion ⓘ common-sense theory of emotion ⓘ |
| coreIdea |
conscious emotional experience is the perception of physiological arousal
ⓘ
we feel afraid because we tremble, not tremble because we are afraid ⓘ |
| criticizedBy |
Philip Bard
ⓘ
Walter Cannon ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
autonomic nervous system responses
ⓘ
bodily feedback ⓘ visceral changes ⓘ |
| field |
emotion research
ⓘ
philosophy of mind ⓘ psychology ⓘ |
| focusesOn | sequence of stimulus–bodily response–emotion ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
difficulty empirically distinguishing unique bodily patterns for each emotion
ⓘ
underestimates role of cognitive appraisal in emotion ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | late 19th century ⓘ |
| influenced |
facial feedback hypothesis
ⓘ
modern theories of embodied emotion ⓘ somatic marker hypothesis ⓘ |
| inspiredDebateOn |
role of the cortex versus periphery in emotion
ⓘ
whether different emotions have distinct autonomic patterns ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Carl Lange
ⓘ
William James ⓘ |
| opposedView | emotions cause bodily changes ⓘ |
| proposedBy |
Carl Lange
ⓘ
William James ⓘ |
| proposes |
different patterns of bodily change correspond to different emotions
ⓘ
emotions result from perception of bodily changes ⓘ physiological arousal precedes emotional experience ⓘ |
| publicationContext |
James–Lange theory of emotion
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
William James’s 1884 paper "What is an Emotion?"
|
| relatedConcept |
bodily feedback theories of emotion
ⓘ
peripheral theories of emotion ⓘ |
| taughtIn |
affective science courses
ⓘ
introductory psychology courses ⓘ |
| usedAs | classic example in emotion textbooks ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: James–Lange theory of emotion Description of subject: The James–Lange theory of emotion is a psychological theory proposing that emotions arise from the perception of physiological changes in the body, such as increased heart rate or sweating, rather than causing those changes.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
James–Lange theory of emotion
→
publicationContext
→
James–Lange theory of emotion
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
William James’s 1884 paper "What is an Emotion?"