One day at school, someone collides with you in the hall and knocks you down, causing you to be angry. However, when playing football with friends, if you get knocked down, you do not express anger. What theory BEST explains how we label each situation and choose the appropriate emotion to show?

In psychology, the Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion attempts to explain why and how people react the way they do. The researchers argue that emotions are produced as a result of the interaction of physiological and cognitive processes. The physiological process refers to how our body reacts to certain physical stimuli, while the cognitive process refers to how our mind interprets the stimuli according to our context and understanding of the situation. So, in other words, whether we feel angry, sad, or happy, depends on how we mentally perceive the physical stimuli that we receive.

In our example, we could say that the physical stimuli in both situations (getting knocked down) is the same. However, the difference lies on how we perceive the situation. Getting knocked down when playing football is acceptable because we understand that is part of the game, so we don't feel angry about it. Getting knocked down in the hall is unacceptable because it's not something that should happen, thus making us reasonably angry.