Grey's Anatomy Character Analysis

Grey’s Anatomy is a popular television show broadcasted on Abc, it is about a cast of surgeons who work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle Washington. Throughout the seasons the cast has changed greatly because of certain characters dying but the main character is Meredith Grey. The other important characters in the show are, Derek Shepard (Meredith’s husband), Alex Karev, Miranda Bailey, Richard Webber, Callie Torres, Owen Hunt, Arizona Robbins, Jackson Avery, April Kepner, Mark Sloan and Cristina Yang. The show is currently in its 12th season, but I chose to write about an episode from season 8 named, “She’s Gone” In this episode, Meredith and Derek continue to struggle with the adoption process and it is affecting their relationship. With Meredith being fired at the moment things are stressful for the other residents and tensions are forming. Callie and Arizona prepared to leave for a conference coming up.

In the Abc TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” there are many emotions, theories of emotions, and display rules for emotions. Sadness is one of the seven universal emotions, it is an emotional of being affected with or marked by unhappiness. In “Grey’s Anatomy,” the characters, Meredith and

Derek have to say goodbye to the child they are hoping to adopt. They have to say goodbye because they adoption agency has to reevaluate the placement of the child. Derek displays sadness by his eyes tearing up and his face turning more red. He also doesn’t make eye contact with anyone else, he looks at the ground with his arms crossed. From keeping himself from crying Derek pressed his lips together tightly and then walked out of the room without saying anything else. Meredith displays her sadness by being frozen in a way, she doesn’t move from where she is and she doesn’t say anything. After a minute or so her friend Alex comes into the room and puts his arm around her and leads her out of the room.
Anger is another one of the seven universal emotions, it is a strong feeling of displeasure, caused by a stimulus.

In “Grey’s Anatomy” the character Christina Yang mistakenly stabbed her fellow resident, Alex Karev, in the hand with one cc of epi. Alex immediately passed out and now has to be under 24 hour monitoring but he will be fine. Christina went into Alex’s room to see if he could help her with something, not to apologize and Alex expressed a lot of anger. He did this by yelling, “you almost killed me!” and his face turned very red as he yelled. As he is yelling you can see spit come from his mouth because he is so mad. He is also laying in a bed with sheets and he is gripping the sheets very tightly. His eyebrows come closer together and speech becomes

quicker.
The Cannon-Bard emotion theory says that one has an emotional and physical response to a stimulus at the same time. In “Grey’s Anatomy” April Kepner is trying to give a patient medicine through a needle. The patient had just come in to the ER and was very aggressive, he was a very large man and was clearly intoxicated. While April was trying to give the patient medicine she pricked the patient with the needle and the patient pulled their arm away very quickly. This reaction can be analyzed under the Cannon-Bard theory because the patient felt the fear and anger of being pricked at the same time they pulled their arm away. In other words, the emotional and physical responses didn’t cause each other, they happened simultaneously.
The James Lange theory of emotion says that an emotion producing stimulus produces a physical response and then we provide an emotion. In “Grey’s Anatomy” Jackson Avery is helping build a deck in Derek's home and it isn’t until he starts hammering in nails to the floor vigorously that he feels the emotion of his anger. This can fit under James Lange theory because an emotion was provided and amplified after a physical act occurred.
Display rules are acceptable ways of displaying emotions in a particular society. They are seen in “Grey’s Anatomy” when Callie and Arizona are saying goodbye to their baby whom Mark is holding. The display rules for women are to be very caring and sweet and not want to leave their baby. The display rules for men in this situation are to stay manly and not show too much emotion but to assure the moms that everything will be under control. Callie and Arizona both bend over to the baby and smile and play with her hands and make kissy faces. While Mark holds the baby in one hand trying to get them out the door. The women looks so sad to be leaving their baby while Mark is hardly showing any emotion. Many psychological terms related to emotion can be seen in a show like “Grey’s Anatomy.”