Walter Bradford Cannon

Walter Bradford Cannon (* October 19, 1871 in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, † October 1, 1945 ) was an American physiologist.

Life

In 1906 he succeeded Henry Pickering Bowditch as George Higginson Professor of Physiology at Harvard University.

During the First World War ( from 1914), he served as president of the " American Physiological Society " and dealt with the traumatic shock in response to threat, among the many soldiers suffered.

He coined the term fight- or- flight response, which describes the response of animals to threat, and published on the topic ( 1915) Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage.

The concept of homeostasis ( homoestasis ) he developed in his book The Wisdom of the Body ( 1932).

The Cannon- Bard theory - The Cannon with his disciple Philip Bard (1898-1977) worked - states that a "Emotion stimulus" two concurrent reactions produces the physiological arousal and the perception of emotion. Neither of these reactions requires the other. The theory assumes that the physical processes are independent of the psychological. In 1932 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina.

Writings

• Cannon WB: Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage: An Account of Recent Researches into the Function of Emotional Excitement. Appleton, New York 1915
• Cannon WB: The James -Lange theory of emotion: A critical examination and an alternative theory to. In: American Journal of Psychology, 39, 1927, pp. 106-124
• W. B. Cannon: The Wisdom of the Body. W. W. Norton, New York 1932