Emily+Howarth+RP+Post+7

Title as of right now: Passion Through The Mind Title of Source: What Are Emotions? Author: Paul Thagard, published in Hot Thought As I read through Paul Thagard's article on emotions,I find myself to be very interested on the topic and the whole psychological view on emotions and the concept of what an emotion might actually be portraying. For instance could an emotion be a display for an underlying meaning such as "cognitive judgements about goal satisfaction," or are they "perceptions of physiological changes," etc. Furthermore as I continue to read through this article I find myself broadening my original idea which was to just discuss the different ways passion can be felt within ones life, and feeling as though I would rather write about how passion is developed within ones mind rather than in a situation. This article is helping me shape my paper into a piece that I find to be much more interesting than my original thought. Within this piece that discusses "advances in neuroscience" and how many people are starting to suggest "how the brains generate emotions through a combination of cognitive appraisal and bodily perception," it provides not only myself but any other readers with examples to try and help support the main focus. The main focus Thagard is discussing is emotions, and the emotion he touches upon to provide an example is happiness. When reading the example which included happiness it persuaded me immediately to write more about the mental aspect of passion. I was so easily persuaded because I find that passion and happiness have many similarities. After Thagard introduces happiness into his article he then goes onto discuss current "two main scientific ways of explaining the nature of emotions." Following he discusses the two ways which include the "cognitive appraisal theory," and William James idea. He goes into detail about each way discussing how the "cognitive appraisal theory" is when "emotions are judgements about the extent that the current situation meets your goals." Whereas William James's idea is "that emotions are perceptions of change in your body such as heart rate, breathing rate, perspiration, and hormone levels" By introducing these ideas it has made me believe that there are so many different views on the ideas of emotions and that people are still uncertain on emotions and what causes them. After these views are discussed the author begins his conclusion, and within his conclusion he tries to unite these ideas and say how that these ideas combined can help to make an emotion. After finishing this article I find it to be an article that I can use to help write my paper, and it has opened a whole new idea for my paper.

Works Cited Thagard, Paul. "What Are Emotions?" Psychology Today. Hot Thought, 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 2 June 2014. .