The Evolution of Human Emotion

[PaulaJedi]

I've often wondered if human emotion is evolving. We have evidence in the world that our emotions are getting stronger. There is more violence, more sadness, more outrage. I really hope there is also more happiness, but our news and society doesn't seem to document too many happy events, if you think about it. So, how would we know?

I wonder at what point in evolution emotions were introduced. Of course, they started out with fear and anger as a method of survival. Love may have later developed as a way of protecting our children. But what does that say about animals that we claim have no emotions? Not all fish protect their young. Some are so dumb that they eat their own babies and eggs, and Evolution took care of that by having them lay thousands of eggs in the hope of just one surviving. Why does it seem that emotion is so inconsistent among species? And why are we so sure that we even understand it?

Some people say that alligators cannot love because they don't have a portion of their brain that provides feelings of love, but they do protect their young. We brush this off as simple instinct and survival. This is true, but I know very well that an alligator can "like" or "prefer" different people and situations. They even have stranger anxiety. Could alligators and other animals be evolving emotionally as their brains develop? Would there be any benefit for this to happen? If not, why were humans "given" such extensive emotions? Do we really need them?

I do feel that our emotions are primitve. We don't even understand them. We can't always control them. Some even deny and suppress them. What would be the evolutionary purpose of even giving this to us? Perhaps we wouldn't reproduce or care for our young. But why such a strong anger emotion? There isn't much around that is going to eat us, anymore. We've learned to control our environment, so isn't it time for evolution to slow down the anger and pump up the love? haha. I know, that sounds like a bad song, but I'm serious.

Emotion seems to be part of our downfall, to be honest.

 

[Einstein]

I have no emotion education. I think this is something that should be taught in school. I've notived when watching some movies, they are made to influence our emotions. Some movies cause me to cry. But I've noticed the tear response will occur with a variety of emotions. I don't even know how many different emotions will evoke the tear response.

 

[Beholder]

We feel pain to avoid damage, boredom to become creative, anger to bring down corrupt systems, depression to aim higher... The irrationality of a short fused person's revenge is what makes it guaranteed and feared, arriving no matter how much one tries to weasel out of the punishment. A fully rational decision system would be too predictable and easy to push around using brinksmanship. Emotions are evolved to beat the challenges of life by letting others know your limits ahead of time, as a way to gain credibility in any negotiation. Only a truly irrational person would ever use nuclear weapons at the cost of mutually assured destruction, so a rational person can not make such threats.

 

[PaulaJedi]

I have no emotion education. I think this is something that should be taught in school. I've notived when watching some movies, they are made to influence our emotions. Some movies cause me to cry. But I've noticed the tear response will occur with a variety of emotions. I don't even know how many different emotions will evoke the tear response.

Sounds like the entertainment industry knows how to manipulate emotions. So does news. Emotions are being taken advantage of.

 

[lamdo263]

I've often wondered if human emotion is evolving. We have evidence in the world that our emotions are getting stronger. There is more violence, more sadness, more outrage. I really hope there is also more happiness, but our news and society doesn't seem to document too many happy events, if you think about it. So, how would we know?

I wonder at what point in evolution emotions were introduced. Of course, they started out with fear and anger as a method of survival. Love may have later developed as a way of protecting our children. But what does that say about animals that we claim have no emotions? Not all fish protect their young. Some are so dumb that they eat their own babies and eggs, and Evolution took care of that by having them lay thousands of eggs in the hope of just one surviving. Why does it seem that emotion is so inconsistent among species? And why are we so sure that we even understand it?

Some people say that alligators cannot love because they don't have a portion of their brain that provides feelings of love, but they do protect their young. We brush this off as simple instinct and survival. This is true, but I know very well that an alligator can "like" or "prefer" different people and situations. They even have stranger anxiety. Could alligators and other animals be evolving emotionally as their brains develop? Would there be any benefit for this to happen? If not, why were humans "given" such extensive emotions? Do we really need them?

I do feel that our emotions are primitve. We don't even understand them. We can't always control them. Some even deny and suppress them. What would be the evolutionary purpose of even giving this to us? Perhaps we wouldn't reproduce or care for our young. But why such a strong anger emotion? There isn't much around that is going to eat us, anymore. We've learned to control our environment, so isn't it time for evolution to slow down the anger and pump up the love? haha. I know, that sounds like a bad song, but I'm serious.

Emotion seems to be part of our downfall, to be honest.

Neanderthals to Cro-Magnon robustus had both feelings showing respect for their dead by items such as spears and furs found in ancient gravesites. Search* prehistoric graves showed early man's respect for the dead.

 

[tflofasho]

I happen to be taking a social psych and affective science course this fall, the latter focusing on emotions, the former on attitudes.

The issue with emotional regulation is nothing new and has always been around with our education system revolving around information regulation. Cognitive dissonance and self regulation go well hand in hand when it comes to terror management theory and mortality salience influencing cognitive processes.

The only thing that theorists can’t seem to settle on are both categorical and causal states either being internal, external, body or mental processes and if emotions precede thought or vice versa. Emotional regulation is social control of controlling and regimenting social apparatus.

 

[lamdo263]

I've often wondered if human emotion is evolving. We have evidence in the world that our emotions are getting stronger. There is more violence, more sadness, more outrage. I really hope there is also more happiness, but our news and society doesn't seem to document too many happy events, if you think about it. So, how would we know?

I wonder at what point in evolution emotions were introduced. Of course, they started out with fear and anger as a method of survival. Love may have later developed as a way of protecting our children. But what does that say about animals that we claim have no emotions? Not all fish protect their young. Some are so dumb that they eat their own babies and eggs, and Evolution took care of that by having them lay thousands of eggs in the hope of just one surviving. Why does it seem that emotion is so inconsistent among species? And why are we so sure that we even understand it?

Some people say that alligators cannot love because they don't have a portion of their brain that provides feelings of love, but they do protect their young. We brush this off as simple instinct and survival. This is true, but I know very well that an alligator can "like" or "prefer" different people and situations. They even have stranger anxiety. Could alligators and other animals be evolving emotionally as their brains develop? Would there be any benefit for this to happen? If not, why were humans "given" such extensive emotions? Do we really need them?

I do feel that our emotions are primitve. We don't even understand them. We can't always control them. Some even deny and suppress them. What would be the evolutionary purpose of even giving this to us? Perhaps we wouldn't reproduce or care for our young. But why such a strong anger emotion? There isn't much around that is going to eat us, anymore. We've learned to control our environment, so isn't it time for evolution to slow down the anger and pump up the love? haha. I know, that sounds like a bad song, but I'm serious.

Emotion seems to be part of our downfall, to be honest.

To answer your query, emotion in humans as they are, is directly connected to the principle known as empathy in an intelligent species. This quality in part is what emotion is for. There's also evidence as of late that animals such as bears are expressing empathy, as this emotion is quadrilateral in it seems to new ability of troubled mother animals to seek help from humans by asking for it.

An example is a worried mother bear going to, turning to a human for help with her bear cubs. This emotion is both now and currently being dealt with and developed.