The electromagnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon are shown to be essentially composed of the nonresonant αp(E0+)=+3.2, αn(E0+)=+4.1,the t-channel αp,nt=−βp,nt=+7.6 and the resonant βp,n(P33(1232))=+8.3 contributions (in units of 10−4fm3. The remaining deviations from the experimental data Δαp=1.2±0.6, Δβp=1.2∓0.6, Δα_n=0.8\pm 1.7andΔβ_n=2.0\mp 1.8arecontributedbyalargernumberofresonantandnonresonantprocesseswithcancellationsbetweenthecontributions.Thisresultconfirmsthatdominantcontributionstotheelectricandmagneticpolarizabilitiesmayberepresentedintermsoftwo−photoncouplingstotheσ−mesonhavingthepredictedmassm_σ=666MeVandtwo−photonwidthΓ_{γγ}=2.6$ keV.