Is an emotion a bodily reaction

Most theories agree that changes in the body, particularly those related to the peripheral nervous system (eg increased sweating or increased heart rate), are a component of emotion. The role and specificity of bodily reactions within the framework of emotions remain two points of debate. Regarding the role of bodily manifestations during an emotional episode, some researchers defend a "peripheralist" theory by claiming that it is the very perception of this specific peripheral reaction that is the emotion.

For example, William James proposed a famous definition of emotion: "Bodily changes immediately follow the perception of the exciting fact, and the feeling we have of these changes as they occur is emotion. .

James considers that we are "grieved because we cry, irritated because we knock, afraid because we tremble, and not that we cry, knock or tremble because we are afflicted, irritated or afraid, as the case may be."

Other authors defend a "centralist" theory according to which the bodily reaction is triggered in response to mechanisms of the central nervous system which are essential to the specificity of a particular emotion. Research into the existence of a specific bodily reaction to each basic emotion so far does not justify any firm conclusion, and the question of whether one can specify an emotion (e.g. fear) precisely exclusively in terms of the reaction of the peripheral nervous system remains much debated.