ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to provide a concise overview of the Perceptual Motor Theory of emotion. This theory is in the tradition of the theories advanced by Ekman (Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth, 1972), Izard (1971), and Tomkins (1962, 1963, 1980), but differs from them in a number of ways that will become apparent. The theory I am presenting is intended to be comprehensive, and in addition to presenting this model, I address three issues of concern to emotion theorists: (1) the relationship of emotion to cognition, (2) the relationship of subjective feeling to expressive behavior, and (3) the issue of emotion control. I begin my exposition with a number of basic assumptions about the substance of emotion. Next, I present the perceptual motor model and show how it applies to the three basic questions. Due to space limitations I do not justify all of my points or marshall a complete array of evidence for each. Detailed arguments and references can be found elsewhere (see Leventhal, 1980; Leventhal & Mosbach, in press).
