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The second component is how we label the emotion we feel i.e. if we have been
aroused and we believe the emotion is fear, we feel fearful. Therefore, emotions are a
result of cognitive interpretation of situations that is, a stimulus is received and the
brain evaluates or appraises it and then a response follows. However, Sternberg (1998)
notes that although this is an important contribution, research has proved that this
theory is not completely correct.
Lazarus's and Zajonc's Temporal-Sequence Theories
These theories are about whether cognitions precede emotions or are
simultaneous with them. Sternberg (1998:551) quotes Magda Arnold (1960,1970) who
proposed that our thinking about a situation leads us to feel emotions. She clarified that
the concept of appraisal occurs unconsciously, like when you appraise a bear when you
see it. According to LeDoux (1991:50) we have a conscious experience of fear and it
results from the tendency to run. Therefore emotional states are characterised by the
presence of appraisal as to their cause. This leads to different action tendencies. Also,
Andrew Ortony and Terrance Turner confirmed this, according to LeDoux (1996: 115).
Zajonc, on the other hand, believed that emotions and cognition are separate;
that emotion is basic and it precedes cognition. That is the case in evolution and at
present animals knows how to react in order to survive without thinking. This is the
case even with us humans. To Richard Lazarus cognition plays a role in how to cope
with emotional reactions when they have been identified. To LeDoux (1996) these
approaches about appraisal, however, based their understanding from self-reports,
which are not a clear-cut indication ofthe state ofaffairs. They also overemphasised the
role of cognitive processes in emotion, which made the distinction between cognition
and emotion less.
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