Excitation Transfer Theory

Excitation as the Driving Force in Acute Emotions

Excitation Transfer Theory focuses on physiological manifestations of bodily arousal. All vital emotions are known to be accompanied by elevated sympathetic reactivity, which is subjectively experienced as general excitedness. The primary function of this reactivity is to provide energy for a burst of action to allow the organism to cope effectively with acute behavioral challenges. Coping via immediate physical action is often unproductive in contemporary situations of challenge, so much of this energy provision has become useless, if not counterproductive. A man, for instance, after being apprised of a divorce settlement of devastating consequence to him, is bound to be superbly energized by rage, but is in no position to resolve the challenge to his advantage by beating up his estranged wife or the judge, nor by racing away from the courthouse. Energizing reactivity has been retained nonetheless, primarily because it is mediated by enduring brain structures, such as the amygdala. This reactivity generates agitation that favors action over inaction. Via feedback of skeletal-motor tension and cardiac acceleration in particular, the reactivity fosters cognizance of the degree of bodily arousal. It ultimately signals emotional intensity and thus drives the experience as well as the goal-directed expression of emotions.

Cognitive and Excitatory Adjustment to Environmental Changes

The time course of cognitive and physically energizing excitatory reactions to emotion-arousing changes in the environment differs greatly. Cognitive adjustment to such changes is quasi-instantaneous because of the exceedingly fast neural mediation of cognition. In contrast, the mediation of sympathetic excitation via the release of hormones into the blood circulation is lethargic, and excitatory adjustment to situational changes comes about only after considerable passage of time. Once instigated, this activity runs its course even after the instigating emotional challenge has ceased to exist and, because of rapid cognitive adjustment, another emotion has come about.

Emotion-Intensification by Leftover Excitation

Excitation Transfer Theory is based on the apparent discrepancy in adjustment time. Specifically, the theory predicts that whenever particular circumstances evoke an emotional reaction at a time when portions of excitation are left over from preceding emotions, the leftover portions combine inseparably with newly instigated excitation to produce excitatory activity whose intensity is greater than that specific to the new instigation alone. Leftover excitation may thus be considered to artificially intensify newly triggered emotions and thereby create “overreactions.” It has been observed, for instance, that libidinal urges and sexual behavior engendered in the wake of furious quarrels tend to be extraordinarily intense. In the reverse direction, thwarted erotic desires tend to foster excessive hostility in unrelated subsequent disputes. In both cases, the leftover excitation from a prior emotion intensified a subsequent, different emotion, thereby making the artificially intensified emotion incommensurate with its actual instigation.

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