Magda Arnold: almost a century of contributions to psychology – Online Psychologists

In October 2002, psychology lost a psychologist who had been around for almost a century: Magda Arnold. The person responsible for the theory of emotions was born in 1903 in a town that is now part of the Czech Republic, but which at the time was still part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. He died in 2002 in the state of Arizona.

A book by Freud, Psychopathology of everyday lifeled her to become interested in psychology. In Prague, she began attending the psychology classes from Charles University. However, she did not attend the university as a student: she worked there as a secretary.

After passing through Prague she moved with her husband to Canada, where she began studying psychology at the University of Toronto. The year was 1935. Four years later he began to investigate, thanks to the thesis he began to prepare for the master's degree he was studying. It was in 1942 when he obtained his doctorate.

That would be the beginning of a long career, which started at the same faculty of psychology where he had carried out his studies. Later, he became Director of Research and Training at the Department of Psychological Services of the Canadian Veterans Affairs. And then he began teaching at Wellesley College in the United States.

His career as a teacher would be long and prosperous. Between 1948 and 1975 he shared his knowledge with thousands of students. During those years he attended Bryn Mawr College, Barat College, Loyola University Chicago and Spring Hill College.

In 1960 Magda Arnold developed her well-known theory of emotional appraisal, which explains the process by which emotions are formed.

But to understand her theory, we must first understand what emotions are, which she herself defined as mechanisms by which we react to stimuli. The function of emotions is to bring us closer to what we consider good and move away from what we consider harmful.

In her theory of emotional appraisal, Magda Arnold argued that emotions were the product not of physical changes but of the way we perceive and evaluate events that happen to us.

The first step of the emotional process is the perception. We talk about perceiving not in the sense of seeing something, but of understanding it. Once you know what you are perceiving, the next step is the assessment Is it good or bad for you? This will depend not only on the object itself, but on the context.

When perceiving and evaluating something, value judgments are issued immediately, without thinking. These judgments are what provoke an emotional response, such as running away from a robbery or hugging someone who has given you good news.

This happens because emotions cause changes in your body that lead you to act: get closer or get further awaydepending on whether the stimulus is pleasant or unpleasant.

From the end of the 1940s, the Catholic religion began to have a great influence on Magda Arnold's life. The figure of John Gassona Jesuit priest, would mark his academic life. Together with him he developed his integral theory of the human person.

For them, Personality is «the set of habits, activities, and potential that a person establishes to achieve his or her ideal self.»

This definition makes it clear that for Arnold and Gasson the person is not a passive subject. Quite the contrary. They consider that Man is an active subjectwho works to achieve his ideal of perfection.

To achieve this, people strive to achieve their own motivations, which should lead them to achieve their ideal self. This ideal concept of oneself is built as we grow and, for these psychologists, it is the ultimate goal of all human beings.

In their theory they claimed that «Each individual can only aspire to achieve his own perfection.» If this were not the case and a person were to strive to achieve an ideal self beyond his or her capabilities, he or she would be immersed in a conflict between what he or she wants to achieve and his or her own nature.

This theory is related to his theory of emotions since, for Arnold, the values ​​that a person follows to reach his ideal self mark his emotional response. That is, his emotional response, The decision to approach or move away from a stimulus will depend on whether or not it brings you closer to your goals.