[An analysis of experimental studies of Schachter's theory of emotion]

The present paper is concerned with Schachter's theory of emotion and with experiments evaluating its empirical significance. Three studies are examined, those by Schachter a. Singer (1962), Erdmann a. Janke (1978) and Marschall a. Zimbardo (1979). They differ considerably in their results. The view is taken, that the seemingly inconsistent findings could be related to a common denominator, with no immediate need of abandoning Schachter's basic ideas. In addressing this issue the concept of "cognitive-physiological incongruity" is introduced referring to altered relations between a person's bodily reactions and his cognitions. An attempt is made to show, that cognitive-physiological incongruity, assumed to be present in the experimental studies under consideration, accounts for most of their conflicting results.