Theories of Emotion: Schachter's Two Factor Theory Example I'm currently in AP Psychology and studying for the exam using the College Board's course description, which contains sample psychology multiple choice questions. Here is one question, taken from the document:

Lee is about to skydive for the first time. He interprets his racing heart to be the result of his eager anticipation and excitement. This best represents which theory of emotion?
(a) Cannon-Bard
(b) James-Lange
(c) Drive reduction
(d) Schachter’s two factor
(e) Arousal

Immediately, I ruled out A, B, C, and E, leaving &quot;D&quot; as the choice. But per the definition of the Schachter two factor theory of emotion (alternatively known as the Schachter-Singer model), an emotion is felt only after there has been a physiological response and a cognitive appraisal of the situation. Here is one source that explains this, but our AP Psychology textbook also explains it in that way. I don't see how that matches the given scenario. Why is this correct?
I think it's because he interprets his emotion as anticipation and excitement because of the context - because he's about to go skydiving which is fun and exciting.  If he was at home watching a boring TV show and had the same physiological experience, he might think he was having a symptom of some kind of heart disease.  If he'd just tried a new drug and had the experience, he'd think it a side effect of the drug.  If he'd just met a new person and had the racing heart, he might think he was in love.  The physiological response (racing heart) is necessary, but it needs to be defined cognitively according to the context (skydiving), that's the two-factor theory.