DOCSLIB.ORG

The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables CHAPTER 8 The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables JOHN TOOBY and LEDA COSMIDES Evolutionary psychology is an attempt to unify The discovery of a correct information- the psychological, social, and behavioral sci- processing description of a psychological ences theoretically and empirically within a mechanism is the fundamental clarifying scien- single, mutually consistent, seamless scientific tific step, because each mechanism came into framework. The core of this enterprise is the in- existence and was organized by natural selec- tegration of principles and findings drawn tion in order to carry out its particular set of from evolutionary biology, cognitive science, information-processing functions. It is not a anthropology, economics, and neuroscience metaphor but a reality that the brain is a with psychology in order to produce high- computer—a physical system that came into resolution maps of human nature. By “human existence to carry out computations. The com- nature,” evolutionary psychologists mean the putations were needed to solve the adaptive evolved, reliably developing, species-typical problem of regulating behavior successfully. computational architecture of the human Hence the brain (and its subsystems) evolved to mind, together with the physical structures and carry out specific varieties of computation in processes (in the brain, in development, and in order to regulate behavior so that it was bio- genetics) that give rise to this information- logically successful—that is, to assemble the in- processing architecture. For evolutionary psy- dividual somatically and neurally, to prevent chologists, all forms of knowledge about brains prereproductive death, to increase the proba- and behavior are relevant, but the pivotal step bility of achieving conditions (social and physi- is using these facts to form accurate models of cal) that would have led to successful reproduc- the information-processing structure of psy- tion in the ancestral world, to reproduce chological mechanisms. successfully, and to assist genetic relatives (in- 114 8. The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions 115 cluding children) to achieve and maintain con- not limited to one area of human life, such as ditions for their own successful reproduction. sex, violence, or resource acquisition. Instead, In short, the functional subcomponents (pro- it is a dimension cross-cutting all areas of grams) that constitute our psychological archi- human life, as weighted by the strange, tecture were designed by natural selection to nonintuitive metric of their cross-generational solve adaptive problems faced by our hunter– statistical effects on direct and kin reproduc- gatherer ancestors by regulating behavior in tion. ways that increased genetic propagation— By “computation,” evolutionary psycholo- what biologists call “fitness.” Against the oth- gists simply mean the organized causation of erwise disordering forces of entropy that per- patterned information input–output relations. vade all of physical reality, natural selection is Natural selection poses adaptive problems of the only process that introduces functional or- behavior regulation, and the mechanisms of the ganization into the designs of organisms brain evolved to engineer solutions in the form (Tooby, Cosmides, & Barrett, 2003). So, to the of these regulatory input–output relations. Of extent that there is functional organization in course, these computational relations must be the human psychological architecture, it was embodied physically in neural tissue, and must created by, reflects, and is explained by the be designed to develop reliably. Adaptations operation of natural selection among our an- are not just the products of the genes, but are cestors. This is why evolutionary psychology is the products of the coordinated interaction of a not a specific subfield of psychology, such as stable genetic inheritance and the evolution- the study of vision, reasoning, or social behav- arily long-enduring features of the environ- ior. It is a way of approaching the science of ment. psychology that produces (or is intended to A model of an evolved neurocomputational produce) stable functional descriptions of the mechanism or program would answer ques- elements of the mind. (Detailed arguments for tions such as these: What information does the these positions can be found in Tooby & program take as input? How is this infor- Cosmides, 1990a, 1990b, 1992a, 2005, and in mation encoded, formatted, and represented Cosmides & Tooby, 1987, 1992, 1997.) as data structures? What operations are per- Researchers less familiar with evolutionary formed on these data structures to transform psychology often equate adaptive problems ex- them into new representations or regulatory el- clusively with short-run threats to physical sur- ements? And how do these procedures and vival. However, survival per se is not central to data structures interact to generate and regu- evolution: All individual organisms die sooner late behavior? In short, how does each pro- or later. In contrast, genes—which can be gram work in cause-and-effect terms? thought of as particles of design—are poten- tially immortal, and design features spread by promoting the reproduction of the genes that AN EVOLUTIONARY- participate in building them. Survival is signifi- PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH cant only insofar as it promotes the reproduc- TO THE EMOTIONS tion of design features into subsequent genera- tions. Survival is no more significant than Although an evolutionary-psychological ap- anything else that promotes reproduction, and proach can be applied to any topic in psychol- is often advantageously risked or sacrificed in ogy, it is especially illuminating when applied the process of promoting reproduction in self, to the emotions. To the extent that there is children, or other relatives. Nearly every kind functional order to be found in the mechanisms of event or condition has the potential to have responsible for the emotions, it was forged over some impact on the prospect of reproduction evolutionary time by natural selection acting for individuals, their children, and their rela- on our ancestors. The analysis of adaptive tives. Consequently, selection on neural designs problems that arose ancestrally has led evolu- for functional behavior reaches out to encom- tionary psychologists to apply the concepts and pass, in a network of cause and effect linkages, methods of the evolutionary sciences to scores virtually all of human life, from the subtleties of topics that are relevant to the study of emo- of facial expression to attributions of responsi- tion. These include anger, cooperation, sexual bility to the intrinsic rewards of play. The realm attraction, jealousy, aggression, parental love, of adaptive information-processing problems is friendship, romantic love, the aesthetics of 116 I. INTERDISCIPLINARY FOUNDATIONS landscape preferences, coalitional aggression, exploration new empirical and theoretical pos- incest avoidance, disgust, predator avoidance, sibilities obscured by other frameworks. kinship, and family relations (for reviews, see Barkow, Cosmides, & Tooby, 1992; Buss, 2005; Crawford & Krebs, 1998; Daly & Wil- AN EVOLUTIONARY- son, 1988; Pinker, 1997). PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY Indeed, a rich theory of the emotions natu- OF THE EMOTIONS rally emerges out of the core principles of evo- lutionary psychology (Tooby, 1985; Tooby & Both deductions from theoretical evolutionary Cosmides, 1990a; Cosmides & Tooby, 2000; psychology and a large supporting body of em- see also Nesse, 1991). In this chapter, we (1) pirical findings in psychology, biology, and briefly state what we think emotions are and neuroscience support the view that the human what adaptive problem they were designed to mental architecture is crowded with evolved, solve; (2) explain the evolutionary and compu- functionally specialized programs. Each is tai- tational principles that led us to this view; (3) lored to solve a different adaptive problem that identify how the emotions relate to motiva- arose during human evolutionary history (or tional and other underlying regulatory vari- before), such as face recognition, foraging, ables the human brain is designed to generate mate choice, heart rate regulation, sleep man- and access; and (4) using this background, ex- agement, or predator vigilance, and each is ac- plicate in a more detailed way the design of tivated by a different set of cues from the envi- emotion programs and the states they create. ronment. It may strike some as odd to speak about But the existence of all these diverse programs love, jealousy, or disgust in computational itself creates an adaptive problem: Programs terms. “Computation” has an affectless, fla- that are individually designed to solve specific vorless connotation. But if the brain evolved as adaptive problems could, if simultaneously acti- a system of information-processing relations, vated, deliver outputs that conflict with one an- then emotions are, in an evolutionary sense, other, interfering with or nullifying each other’s best understood as information-processing functional products. For example, sleep and relations—that is, programs—with naturally flight from a predator require mutually inconsis- selected functions. Initially, the commitment to tent actions, computations, and physiological exploring the underlying computational archi- states. It is difficult to sleep when your heart and tecture of the emotions may seem
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Compassionate Love for Close Others and Humanity
    03_sprecher_056439 (jk-t) 29/9/05 1:42 pm Page 629 Compassionate love for close others and humanity Susan Sprecher Illinois State University Beverley Fehr University of Winnipeg ABSTRACT A compassionate love scale was developed that can be used, in alternative forms, to assess compassionate or altruistic love for different targets (e.g., close others and all of humankind). Using three samples (total N = 529), the Compas- sionate Love scale was developed and piloted. Three studies (total N = 700) were then conducted to provide validation of the scale and to examine correlates of compassionate love. In support of our predictions, compassionate love was found to be associated positively with prosocial behavior, as directed both to close others and to all of humanity. Those who were more religious or spiritual experienced more compassionate love than those who were less religious or spiritual. Evidence was found that compassionate love is distinct from empathy. In the final study, we introduced a relationship-specific version of the Compassionate Love scale, and found that compassionate love for a specific close other was associated with the provision of social support for that person. KEY WORDS: altruism • compassionate love • love • social support • spirituality Considerable research has been conducted on love in the past two decades. This research has focused primarily on defining and operational- izing love and the examination of its predictors, correlates, and outcomes within romantic relationships (for a review, see S. S. Hendrick & Hendrick, 2000). Love for close others such as family and friends, for peripheral ties, and for all of humanity has generally not been a topic of investigation.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpersonal Attraction
    Dr K Williams 11/19/07 Interpersonal Attraction Psych 240; Fall 2007 Purdue University Prof. Kipling Williams Initial Attraction: What matters at first? Propinquity (we like those who live/work near us; mere exposure) Physical Attractiveness (we like those who are physically attractive; halo, rewards, kernel of truth; evolutionary signs of health and reproductive advantage) Similarity/Complementarity (we like those who are similar to us—it’s rewarding; complementarity of needs) Responsiveness (we like those who are responsive to us; signals belonging, worth, and control) Reciprocal liking (we like those who like us—it’s rewarding) Interpersonal Attraction 1 Dr K Williams 11/19/07 Propinquity Festinger, Schachter & Back (1959)’s “Social pressures in informal groups: A study of human factors in housing” Zajonc’s (1968) “Attitudinal effects of mere exposure” (JPSP) “Mirror exposure” - we like our reflection view better than the view that others see of us; and vice versa. Moreland & Beach’s (1992) “Exposure effects in the classroom…” (JESP) Physical Attractiveness Walster, Aronson, Abrahams & Rottman, 1966: Computer Dating paradigm Take a battery of measures of personality SES interests physical attractiveness Randomly pair college students with person of opposite sex. Asked them to rate their date Only one factor predicted liking and intention to ask out again…physical attractiveness (for males & females!) How about after the fifth date? (Mathes, 1975) Interpersonal Attraction 2 Dr K Williams 11/19/07 Physical Attractiveness How ubiquitous? In the courtroom less likely to be found guilty; if guilty, lighter sentence (except if used to commit crime) In job applications More likely to be hired even for jobs in which appearance could have no conceivable relationship to job performance Class project (High, Med, Low Phys Attractiveness X High, Med, Low Qualifications) • Which matters most? Physical Attractiveness How ubiquitous? With children They are more popular, better liked by parents, teachers, and peers.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defense of Massive Modularity
    3 In Defense of Massive Modularity Dan Sperber In October 1990, a psychologist, Susan Gelman, and three anthropolo- gists whose interest in cognition had been guided and encouraged by Jacques Mehler, Scott Atran, Larry Hirschfeld, and myself, organized a conference on “Cultural Knowledge and Domain Specificity” (see Hirsch- feld and Gelman, 1994). Jacques advised us in the preparation of the conference, and while we failed to convince him to write a paper, he did play a major role in the discussions. A main issue at stake was the degree to which cognitive development, everyday cognition, and cultural knowledge are based on dedicated do- main-specific mechanisms, as opposed to a domain-general intelligence and learning capacity. Thanks in particular to the work of developmental psychologists such as Susan Carey, Rochel Gelman, Susan Gelman, Frank Keil, Alan Leslie, Jacques Mehler, Elizabeth Spelke (who were all there), the issue of domain-specificity—which, of course, Noam Chomsky had been the first to raise—was becoming a central one in cognitive psychol- ogy. Evolutionary psychology, represented at the conference by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, was putting forward new arguments for seeing human cognition as involving mostly domain- or task-specific evolved adaptations. We were a few anthropologists, far from the main- stream of our discipline, who also saw domain-specific cognitive pro- cesses as both constraining and contributing to cultural development. Taking for granted that domain-specific dispositions are an important feature of human cognition, three questions arise: 1. To what extent are these domain-specific dispositions based on truly autonomous mental mechanisms or “modules,” as opposed to being 48 D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitution and Revenge Porn
    Pace Law Review Volume 35 Issue 1 Fall 2014 Article 8 Symposium: Social Media and Social Justice September 2014 The Constitution and Revenge Porn John A. Humbach Pace University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Internet Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, and the Legal Remedies Commons Recommended Citation John A. Humbach, The Constitution and Revenge Porn, 35 Pace L. Rev. 215 (2014) Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol35/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Constitution and Revenge Porn John A. Humbach* “Many are those who must endure speech they do not like, but that is a necessary cost of freedom.”1 Revenge porn refers to sexually explicit photos and videos that are posted online or otherwise disseminated without the consent of the persons shown, generally in retaliation for a romantic rebuff.2 The problem of revenge porn seems to have emerged fairly recently,3 no doubt facilitated by the widespread practice of sexting.4 In sexting, people make and send explicit pictures of themselves using digital devices.5 These devices, in their very nature, permit the pictures to be easily shared with the entire online world. Although the move from sexting to revenge porn might seem as inevitable as the shifting winds * Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolutionary Biology of Decision Making
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology Psychology, Department of 2008 The Evolutionary Biology of Decision Making Jeffrey R. Stevens University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub Part of the Psychiatry and Psychology Commons Stevens, Jeffrey R., "The Evolutionary Biology of Decision Making" (2008). Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology. 523. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/523 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in BETTER THAN CONSCIOUS? DECISION MAKING, THE HUMAN MIND, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTITUTIONS, ed. Christoph Engel and Wolf Singer (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008), pp. 285-304. Copyright 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology & the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Used by permission. 13 The Evolutionary Biology of Decision Making Jeffrey R. Stevens Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14195 Berlin, Germany Abstract Evolutionary and psychological approaches to decision making remain largely separate endeavors. Each offers necessary techniques and perspectives which, when integrated, will aid the study of decision making in both humans and nonhuman animals. The evolutionary focus on selection pressures highlights the goals of decisions and the con­ ditions under which different selection processes likely influence decision making. An evolutionary view also suggests that fully rational decision processes do not likely exist in nature.
    [Show full text]
  • EMDR Protocol Anger, Resentment and Revenge June 2014
    EMDR Protocol Anger, Resentment and Revenge June 2014 Prologue In order to carry out the protocol in a responsible way, it is above all very important to have a thorough knowledge of the target group. Secondly, it is recommended to have participated in a workshop practising the protocol. And thirdly, one need knowledge of applying cognitive interweaves (as taught in an accredited EMDR training), because the presented procedure can also be used as cognitive interweave within the EMDR Standard protocol. Applying the protocol as a cognitive interweave: see addendum. Introduction The rationale of coping with Anger, Resentment and Revenge can be explained as follows: When people are reminded of disturbing memories or certain persons, it can lead to fierce emotions; sometimes “ the bucket will even overflow”. There are two kinds of emotions which can still be triggered by thinking of those negative experiences or persons. Therefore, there are also two buckets which can overflow. draw a bucket titled “Powerlessness and Fear” draw another bucket titled “Anger, Resentment and Revenge” One bucket contains all emotions concerning powerlessness, grief, fear and fright; all vulnerable, internalized emotions. The other bucket is filled with emotions like anger, resentment and sometimes even revenge; all ‘external directed’ emotions. When we look at the Powerlessness and Fear bucket, how full is it at this moment? When we look at the Anger bucket, how full is it at this moment? draw the levels indicated by the patient or let the patient draw the indicated levels Emptying which bucket would give the most relief? if the patient chooses the Powerlessness and Fear bucket, use the standard EMDR protocol if the patient chooses the Anger bucket, follow the next procedure Inventory To empty the bucket, we will not discuss the disturbing experiences you had, but we will focus on the persons who have treated you wrongly or who have damaged you.
    [Show full text]
  • Ransom Is a Story of Vengeance Clashing with Grief.’ Discuss
    ‘Ransom is a story of vengeance clashing with grief.’ Discuss. In his lyrical novel, Ransom, David Malouf reimagines the final book of The Iliad, and in doing so, highlights the futility of countering grief with vengeance. He asserts the pointlessness of such vengeful actions, examines the role of the ‘rough world of men’ in creating it, and notes its cyclic nature, leaving many readers disheartened. However, Malouf also demonstrates how grief can be overcome with honourable actions. Malouf demonstrates to readers the uselessness of trying to assuage grief with acts of revenge. He introduces this concept right from the outset of the novel through his characterisation of Achilles. Malouf moves away from the traditional portrayal of Achilles as the most formidable of the Greeks and instead describes him as hollow and like a dead man. This new perspective of Achilles depicts him as lacking balance and feeling trapped in a clogging grey web due to his grief over the death of his soulmate Patroclus. Once Malouf describes Achilles’ barbaric actions in dragging around the corpse of Patroclus’ killer, Hector, it becomes clear to readers that Achilles is attempting to assuage his grief with violence and brutal, callous actions. Malouf uses imagery to depict Achilles as already dead himself as he continues to desecrate Hector’s body, by describing him as caked with dust like a man who has walked out of his grave. Thus, Malouf asserts how Achilles’ act of revenge has only wasted his spirit and left him feeling that it was never enough; being unable to overcome his pain at the loss of his friend.
    [Show full text]
  • DOCUMENT RESUME Dimensions of Interest and Boredom In
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 397 840 IR 018 028 AUTHOR Small, Ruth V., And Others TITLE Dimensions of Interest and Boredom in Instructional Situations. PUB DATE 96 NOTE 16p.; In: Prbceedings of Selected Research and Development Presentations at the 1996 National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (18th, Indianapolis, IN, 1996); see IR 017 960. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Academic Achievement; Brainstorming; Cognitive Style; College Students; Educational Strategies; Higher Education; Instructional Development; *Instructional Effectiveness; Instructional Material Evaluation; *Learning Strategies; Likert Scales; Participant Satisfaction; Questionnaires; Relevance (Education); *Stimulation; Student Attitudes; *Student Motivation; Teacher Role; Teaching Methods IDENTIFIERS ARCS Model; *Boredom; Emotions ABSTRACT Stimulating interest and reducing boredom are important goals for promoting learning achievement. This paper reviews previous research on interest and boredom in educational settings and examines their relationship to the characteristics of emotion. It also describes research which seeks to develop a model of learner interest by identifying sources of "boring" and "interesting" leaming situations through analysis of learners' descriptions. Participants is, the study were 512 undergraduate and graduate students from two universities. Descriptive responses were elicited from 350 students through brainstorming
    [Show full text]
  • The Hierarchically Mechanistic Mind: a Free-Energy Formulation of the Human Psyche
    JID:PLREV AID:1045 /REV [m3SC+; v1.294; Prn:28/01/2019; 9:15] P.1(1-18) Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Physics of Life Reviews ••• (••••) •••–••• www.elsevier.com/locate/plrev Review The hierarchically mechanistic mind: A free-energy formulation of the human psyche ∗ Paul B. Badcock a,b,c, , Karl J. Friston d, Maxwell J.D. Ramstead d,e,f a Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3052, Australia b Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3010, Australia c Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Melbourne, 3052, Australia d Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, WC1N3BG, UK e Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T7, Canada f Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A1, Canada Communicated by Prod Felix Schoeller Abstract This article presents a unifying theory of the embodied, situated human brain called the Hierarchically Mechanistic Mind (HMM). The HMM describes the brain as a complex adaptive system that actively minimises the decay of our sensory and physical states by producing self-fulfilling action-perception cycles via dynamical interactions between hierarchically organised neurocog- nitive mechanisms. This theory synthesises the free-energy principle (FEP) in neuroscience with an evolutionary systems theory of psychology that explains our brains, minds, and behaviour by appealing to Tinbergen’s four questions: adaptation, phylogeny, on- togeny, and mechanism. After leveraging the FEP to formally define the HMM across different spatiotemporal scales, we conclude by exploring its implications for theorising and research in the sciences of the mind and behaviour.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution by Natural Selection, Formulated Independently by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
    UNIT 4 EVOLUTIONARY PATT EVOLUTIONARY E RNS AND PROC E SS E Evolution by Natural S 22 Selection Natural selection In this chapter you will learn that explains how Evolution is one of the most populations become important ideas in modern biology well suited to their environments over time. The shape and by reviewing by asking by applying coloration of leafy sea The rise of What is the evidence for evolution? Evolution in action: dragons (a fish closely evolutionary thought two case studies related to seahorses) 22.1 22.4 are heritable traits that with regard to help them to hide from predators. The pattern of evolution: The process of species have changed evolution by natural and are related 22.2 selection 22.3 keeping in mind Common myths about natural selection and adaptation 22.5 his chapter is about one of the great ideas in science: the theory of evolution by natural selection, formulated independently by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. The theory explains how T populations—individuals of the same species that live in the same area at the same time—have come to be adapted to environments ranging from arctic tundra to tropical wet forest. It revealed one of the five key attributes of life: Populations of organisms evolve. In other words, the heritable characteris- This chapter is part of the tics of populations change over time (Chapter 1). Big Picture. See how on Evolution by natural selection is one of the best supported and most important theories in the history pages 516–517. of scientific research.
    [Show full text]
  • DISGUST: Features and SAWCHUK and Clinical Implications
    Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 7, 2005, pp. 932-962 OLATUNJIDISGUST: Features AND SAWCHUK and Clinical Implications DISGUST: CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES, SOCIAL MANIFESTATIONS, AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS BUNMI O. OLATUNJI University of Massachusetts CRAIG N. SAWCHUK University of Washington School of Medicine Emotions have been a long–standing cornerstone of research in social and clinical psychology. Although the systematic examination of emotional processes has yielded a rather comprehensive theoretical and scientific literature, dramatically less empirical attention has been devoted to disgust. In the present article, the na- ture, experience, and other associated features of disgust are outlined. We also re- view the domains of disgust and highlight how these domains have expanded over time. The function of disgust in various social constructions, such as cigarette smoking, vegetarianism, and homophobia, is highlighted. Disgust is also becoming increasingly recognized as an influential emotion in the onset, maintenance, and treatment of various phobic states, Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, and eating disorders. In comparison to the other emotions, disgust offers great promise for fu- ture social and clinical research efforts, and prospective studies designed to improve our understanding of disgust are outlined. The nature, structure, and function of emotions have a rich tradition in the social and clinical psychology literature (Cacioppo & Gardner, 1999). Although emotion theorists have contested over the number of discrete emotional states and their operational definitions (Plutchik, 2001), most agree that emotions are highly influential in organizing thought processes and behavioral tendencies (Izard, 1993; John- Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by NIMH NRSA grant 1F31MH067519–1A1 awarded to Bunmi O.
    [Show full text]
  • About Emotions There Are 8 Primary Emotions. You Are Born with These
    About Emotions There are 8 primary emotions. You are born with these emotions wired into your brain. That wiring causes your body to react in certain ways and for you to have certain urges when the emotion arises. Here is a list of primary emotions: Eight Primary Emotions Anger: fury, outrage, wrath, irritability, hostility, resentment and violence. Sadness: grief, sorrow, gloom, melancholy, despair, loneliness, and depression. Fear: anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, dread, fright, and panic. Joy: enjoyment, happiness, relief, bliss, delight, pride, thrill, and ecstasy. Interest: acceptance, friendliness, trust, kindness, affection, love, and devotion. Surprise: shock, astonishment, amazement, astound, and wonder. Disgust: contempt, disdain, scorn, aversion, distaste, and revulsion. Shame: guilt, embarrassment, chagrin, remorse, regret, and contrition. All other emotions are made up by combining these basic 8 emotions. Sometimes we have secondary emotions, an emotional reaction to an emotion. We learn these. Some examples of these are: o Feeling shame when you get angry. o Feeling angry when you have a shame response (e.g., hurt feelings). o Feeling fear when you get angry (maybe you’ve been punished for anger). There are many more. These are NOT wired into our bodies and brains, but are learned from our families, our culture, and others. When you have a secondary emotion, the key is to figure out what the primary emotion, the feeling at the root of your reaction is, so that you can take an action that is most helpful. .
    [Show full text]