MGMT641-Factor Theory Of Schachter And Singer

The study of human behavior within an organization is termed as organizational behavior. In general, it is an understanding of people’s behavior in an organizational setting. The behavior of an individual can be examined in three various levels of influence, namely- at the individual level, group level, and the organizational level. It helps to understand the performance at the workplace and enhance interactions with employees. Basically, an organization’s goal is achieving success by having a good organizational culture, improved level of communication, motivation, and leadership. A better understanding of organizational behavior provides support to gain the competitive advantage. Further, it also provides the insight to the smooth and effective business. It also examines human behavior in the work environment and observes its influence on the structure of job, work performance, level of interaction and so on. The purpose of this essay is to put the theories of organizational dynamics and behavior to use. In addition, examining what are the ways in which these theories are used in real-life organizational behavior and dynamics.

In the 1960s, cognitive theories of emotion began surfacing. This phase is termed as ‘cognitive revolution’ in psychology. The cognitive theory by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer is among the first of cognitive theories. Their theory is known as the two-factor emotion theory. It demonstrates the relation between physical arousal and cognitive label of that arousal (Schachter and Singer, 1962). It means that the arousal alone is not enough, the identification of the arousal is also important so that the emotion can be felt. 

The aim of the study was to test the Two Factor Theory of emotion. The hypothesis of the study was that the person goes through an experience of physiological arousal and has no explanation; this state will be labeled as the ‘cognitive explanations’ of its causes that is based on the current situation. If there is an explanation for the physiological arousal, then there will not be any need to label this arousal as emotion on the basis of external situational cues. If there is no state of physiological arousal even if there are situational cues, there will be no emotion. The aim of the study was to test this hypothesis.

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In 1962, this theory was tested by Schachter and Singer. By using the convenience sampling method, a group of 184 male participants’ bodies were injected with a drug called epinephrine. However, the participants were only informed that they were being injected with a new drug for the purpose of testing their eyesight. Only one group of the participants was told about the possible side effect that might be caused by the injection while others were not informed about this. The participants were then placed in a room with other participant who was a stooge. The stooge behaved in either of the two ways- angry or euphoric. Participants who did not know about the effects were more likely to feel happier or angrier comparatively to those who have been told about the effects. The people who were placed in a room with happy confederate took the side effect as being happy while the others who were with an angry confederate felt being angry as the side effect.

The theorists hypothesized that if people experienced an unexplained emotion they would label those feelings as the feelings felt in the present situation. The result of this particular experiment suggested that who did not have any explanations for their feelings were more inclined to be receptive to the emotionally influenced by the confederate.

The theory by Schachter and Singer gained recognition but also faced some criticism. The researchers have not fully supported the findings of the original study and have also revealed some contradicting results time to time.

In the imitations presented by Marshall and Zimbardo, the researchers observed that the participants in the study did not show any signs of significant euphoria when exposed to a euphoric stimulus and when exposed to a neutral stimulus. Another research that was presented by Maslach, to induce arousal, hypnotic suggestion was preferred instead of epinephrine. The results put forth that unexplained physical arousal was more likely to produce negative emotions irrespective of the condition. Other limitations were that the participants were misinformed and the study was gender biased. 

When a person cannot explain the reason for his physiological arousal, they label the feelings according to the situational cues that are available. Therefore, the subjects would feel anger or euphoria. The subjects that did not know about the injection replicated the behavior of the confederate. The informed ones on the other hand showed little or no emotion. It was found that the individual had a perfect explanation for his state when he was informed. It suggests that the participants who were informed were able to cognitively attribute their feelings to the effect of epinephrine whereas the misinformed participants could not perform such attribution and hence interpreted their feelings as emotions. People when unaware of the way of reacting, they try and copy the emotions they get access to, but the theory has mostly been criticized on the basis of its subjective nature. There is no way to verify whether the actual findings relate to any new experiments.

Lazarus and Folkman propounded the Theory of Cognitive Appraisal in the year 1984. This theory explained the mental processes that are influenced by the stressors. According to Richard Lazarus, the stress is a two-way process. In includes the generation of stressors by the environment and the individual’s response when subjected to these stressors. Furthermore, his perception with regard to stress led to the emergence of Cognitive theory of Appraisal (Lazarus and Smith, 1988). There are two main types of appraisal methods- primary appraisal and secondary appraisal.

The primary appraisal seeks to know the meaning of the particular event, whereas the secondary appraisal assesses the individual’s ability of coping with the existing situation. 

The aim of the theory was to prove their study. The study stated that the emotions are experienced when individuals interact with the environment. The events are then appraised as advantageous or harmful for the individual’s well-being. It was claimed by both Lazarus and Schachter that the cognition is a vital part of the emotional state. Initially Lazarus claimed there were two types of appraisals i.e. primary and secondary but later he identified six appraisal components- three components for each type of appraisal. The primary appraisal consists of accountability, motivational relevance, and motivational congruence whereas the components of the secondary appraisal include problem focused coping, emotion focused coping, and future expectancy.

According to Lazarus’s cognitive-meditational theory, when faced with a stressor, The potential threat is judged by the person (via primary appraisal) and weighs effective alternatives to manage the present situation (via secondary appraisal). Stress is the outcome if the stressor is perceived as threatening and if there is unavailability of the coping options.

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The Appraisal theory of emotions propounded that emotions are a result of our cognitive appraisals i.e. evaluations, perceptions, interpretations, etc. Different people have different reactions to different situations and thus this cannot be tried and tested on any single individual or a group for that matter. Magda Arnold advanced in the appraisal theory and the Lazarus’s theory is based on her study. Further, the theory argues that the emotions are a result of the interaction with the environment, but it also suggests that immediate and unconscious appraisals mediate in between the stimulus and the response.

The limitations of this theory are that the appraisals might not hold importance in determining the emotions and experience of an individual. The emotions are a result of the situational stimulus and thus cannot be generalized. Appraisal is said to lead towards the emotional experience, but it can also go in reverse i.e. emotional experience can also build appraisal. Furthermore, it is quite unclear that when and in which way the processes will operate.

Lazarus distinguished between primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. The appraisal mediates between the stimulus and the emotional response and is immediate and unconscious. It was asserted by Lazarus, that while interpreting the emotional context the response might be conscious or subconscious. Furthermore, he states that the cognitive processes control the intensity and the quality of emotions. They mediate the relation between the environment and the individual via different coping strategies. These coping strategies are based on the emotional reaction of the individual. The theory is relatable because it is true that emotions occur because of the interaction with environment, if there were no interaction then no emotions would surface for any specific stimulus. However, each individual will have the same emotions for same stimulus cannot be determined. 

Emotion is the dominant factor in the lives of the individuals. The emotion has been studied for ages and various researches have attempted to study it in their own way. Both Schachter-Singer theory and Lazarus’s theory discusses emotion and have a cognitive component within the explanation if the emotion. However, despite the similarities the theories differ from each other. The Schachter-Singer theory focuses on the occurrences of physiological arousals and links it to the emotional explanation. They state that the stimulus leads to the arousal that is labeled, making use of the cognition, which then leads to the emotion. In an organization the theory of two-factors can be used to motivate the clients for performing better by giving an opportunity for a raise or a bonus. The raise/bonus will arouse them and they will work harder. It is a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee.

The Lazarus’s theory, on the other hand, talks about Occurrence of the cognitive component before experiencing emotion and then the physiological reactions follow. The stimulus is responsible for the meaning that is driven from the cognition and it further leads to arousal and emotion. Therefore, these two theories discuss cognition and emotion, but differ in terms of their approach. This theory is relevant to jobs that are neither boring nor super interesting. To provide an extrinsic reward for a behavior that had previously received intrinsic reward is more likely to reduce the level of motivation. The negative organizational change like downsizing activity is likely to be a potential threat to the employees and it might exceed his adaptive resources. However, restructuring is a positive challenge and because it poses a chance for organizational development or maybe a promotion. 

Lazarus, R. and Smith, C. (1988). Knowledge and Appraisal in the Cognition—Emotion Relationship. Cognition & Emotion, 2(4), pp.281-300.

Schachter, S. and Singer, J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69(5), pp.379-399.

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