"This is what we know now and we are reasonably certain that we're right. However, as we gather more information or learn new ways to interpret these phenomena, things could change and so it's best not to become to attached to our theories."(Unknown)

When in 1884, William James asked his famous question "What is an emotion?", he implied that the answer was not obvious. Almost 150 years later, in the year 2001, his implication is still valid, because scientists still did not agree on a clear definition to emotions. This essay will not try to come up with a clear and correct definition of what an emotion is, however it will give a most general definition, but discuss, or at least try to do so, whether emotions are biologically or socially determined.

Emotion, as it is defined in a Dictionary of Psychology, is "an umbrella term for any of a number of subjectively experienced, affect-laden states, the ontological status of each being established by a label whose meaning is arrived at by simple consensus. It is what we mean when we say that love, fear, anger, hope are emotions". (Reber, 1995) However the most agreed def

To conclude with the essay lets look at a particular emotion separately and try to examine it from both biological and social sides. As an example let's take fear. Darwinian and Jamesian theorists both of whom support biological determination of emotions, regard fear as a basic or also called fundamental emotion. According to Izard and Ekman, "fear is an innate response to conditions in one's internal or external environment that "signal danger"(Izard, 1977) Fear is usually accompanied by facial expression: widening of the eyes, a rising of the upper eyelid, a tensing of the lower eyelid, and the opening of the mouth with the mouth drawn slightly back. Deriving from his research Ekman also suggests that fear is characterized by an increase in heart rate and decrease in body temperature. All these reactions are biological and according to the research are shared between cultures. Biological determination of emotions does not completely deny social patterns to the emotions, where as social does. Biological theories allow certain social events to take place for a biological emotion to arise however social theorists believe that emotions are made only of social patterns that depend on cultural and historical differences.

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Approximate Word count = 1584
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)