| Term | Definition |
| emotion | a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 513) |
| Cannon-Bard theory | the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 514) |
| James-Lange theory | the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 514) |
| two-factor theory | Schachter-Singer's theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 514) |
| polygraph | a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes). (Myers Psychology 8e p. 520) |
| catharsis | emotional release. In psychology, the catharsis hypothesis maintains that "releasing" aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 536) |
| feel-good, do-good phenomenon | people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 537) |
| subjective well-being | self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 538) |
| adaptation-level phenomenon | our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 542) |