After Night Class, You Are Walking Back to Your Car

Multiple Choice

After night class, you are walking back to your car when you catch a glimpse of someone running up behind you. You quickly turn and brace for a possible attack, but the students runs on by. It is only after you reacted to the possible attack that you realized that you felt afraid. Reacting before experiencing the feeling of fear is BEST explained by which theory of emotion?

A) the James-Lange theory
B) the common sense theory
C) Schachter's cognitive theory
D) the Cannon-Bard theory