Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer told participants they were receiving a vitamin injection to test its effect on eyesight, but actually gave them either epinephrine (which produces physical arousal such as a racing heart) or a placebo. Some participants were told accurately what physical effects to expect, some were misled, and some were told nothing at all. Each participant then waited with a confederate who acted either euphoric or angry. Participants who had no accurate explanation for their own arousal were the most likely to take on the confederate's mood, reporting themselves as happy or angry depending only on what they saw around them.
Facts
Key FindingEmotion depends on both physiological arousal and a cognitive label for that arousal drawn from the immediate situation; when people cannot explain their own arousal, they borrow an explanation, and an emotion, from whatever is happening around them. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This experiment is the original empirical study behind the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion.
Conducted By
In Branch
The manipulation is physiological (an injected arousal agent), so the study is placed in the biological branch as well as social psychology.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Two-Factor Theory of Emotion
Wikimedia FoundationEmpirical support sectionQuote, Empirical support section
If a person experiences a state of arousal for which they have no immediate explanation, they will label this state and describe their feelings in terms of the cognitions available to them at the time.
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