NationStates Jolt Archive

What do you think is the role of emotions in the evolutionary process? What animals have emotions and what range of emotions do they have?

Too deep. Why couldn't you pose this question 5 hours ago!!??

I think it's pretty easy to spot emotions in most gregarious mammals. As for the roles they play, probably they help bond one individual to the rest of the group and help ensure it's survival, as well as providing an incentive to be altruistic toward other members of the group and help ensure that the group's shared genes have a better chance of replicating.

Too deep. Why couldn't you pose this question 5 hours ago!!??

I was too sleepy to think of any deep questions 5 hours ago. :p

I think it's pretty easy to spot emotions in most gregarious mammals. As for the roles they play, probably they help bond one individual to the rest of the group and help ensure it's survival, as well as providing an incentive to be altruistic toward other members of the group and help ensure that the group's shared genes have a better chance of replicating.


Hmmm good points. Yeah I see happiness and anger in dogs, even jealousy. How would jealousy come into play with yout theory?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alphabetical list of emotions
Acceptance, Amusement, Anger, Anticipation, Apprehension, Awe
Calmness, Comfort, Contentment, Confidence, Cool, Courage
Depression, Disappointment, Disgust, Desire
Elation, Embarrassment, Envy,
Fear, Friendship, Frustration,
Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Glee, Gladness
Hate, Happiness, Honor, Hope, Humility
Joy, Jealousy,
Kindness
Love, Lust
Modesty
Nervousness, Negativity
Pain, Patience, Peace, Phobia, Pity, Pride
Rage, Remorse, Repentance
Sadness, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock, Suffering, Surprise
Terror
Unhappiness
Vulnerability
Worry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are these all a product of chemical reactions to thought?

Hmmm good points. Yeah I see happiness and anger in dogs, even jealousy. How would jealousy come into play with yout theory?
Jealousy might prompt an individual to assert it's dominance over sexual rivals and breed more with the more healthy members of the opposite sex.

Interesting question. I believe many animals show emotions to a certain degree. For example from personal experience growing up with pets. Dogs get happy, depressed, scared, angry exen to some degree feelings of indifference. n a communications class I too recently at Iowa. We read a study about emotional responses in monkeys. They were able to show some fairly complex emothinal responses. Many of the basic emotions are really based on enviornmental conditions & instinct.

The higher emotions like the feelings you get when you conjure up beliefs such as Liberty or Angst I believe separate us from other species in many ways.

I think this is just one of many factors that contribute to humans being on a higher plane then the rest of the animal kingdom though.

Oh I don't know. Fear seems to work in the wild. ;)

Jealousy might prompt an individual to assert it's dominance over sexual rivals and breed more with the more healthy members of the opposite sex.


I'll have to mull that idea over. It sounds like a good explanation to me though. What range of emotions do you think existed before the emergence of humanity? I'm thinking that lust, anger, fear, and things like that which worked toward survival of the species by providing motivation for things were present. I wonder when depression came into existence and what purpose that served as well.

I'll have to mull that idea over. It sounds like a good explanation to me though. What range of emotions do you think existed before the emergence of humanity? I'm thinking that lust, anger, fear, and things like that which worked toward survival of the species by providing motivation for things were present. I wonder when depression came into existence and what purpose that served as well.
Best way to find out would probably be to study non-human primates. I think you can find chimps displaying depression.

Interesting question. I believe many animals show emotions to a certain degree. For example from personal experience growing up with pets. Dogs get happy, depressed, scared, angry exen to some degree feelings of indifference. n a communications class I too recently at Iowa. We read a study about emotional responses in monkeys. They were able to show some fairly complex emothinal responses. Many of the basic emotions are really based on enviornmental conditions & instinct.

The higher emotions like the feelings you get when you conjure up beliefs such as Liberty or Angst I believe separate us from other species in many ways.

I think this is just one of many factors that contribute to humans being on a higher plane then the rest of the animal kingdom though.


What do you mean higher plane? As a highly specialized (moreso than other animals) way to ensure the survival of the individual and propogation of the spoecies kinda way? It seems that some of these emotions are detrimental to us, like depression. Love seems to work for and against us. I wonder if some emotions are really emotions at all and not something that we were trained to feel.

Best way to find out would probably be to study non-human primates. I think you can find chimps displaying depression.

Sumamba Buwhan in the Mist!

Oh I don't know. Fear seems to work in the wild. ;)


I think fear is a very useful emotion for any animals survival.

I think it's pretty easy to spot emotions in most gregarious mammals. As for the roles they play, probably they help bond one individual to the rest of the group and help ensure it's survival, as well as providing an incentive to be altruistic toward other members of the group and help ensure that the group's shared genes have a better chance of replicating.

But what about the selfish gene hypothesis, it was a while since I read Richard Dawkins (who I find interminably heavy-going) but I'm pretty sure he completely debunked the group selection theory.

Something like "altruism won't be passed on because if something takes advantage of that altruism, they'll have a bigger advantage and so more of their genes will be passed on"

Maybe an evolutionary biologist can help me out here - but I'm pretty sure that group selection is old hat.

Anyways as regards emotions maybe they're chemical signals towards that which we can fear (spend energy defending ourselves from) and that which we can trust (not spend energy defending) and then all the emotions are levels of these.

Well, i've read a description of what is considered one of the greatest antropologic findings of the 21st centurey, a nearly complete skeleton of a female Homo Erectus in Africa, that had bone deficiencies caused by a Hypervitaminosis A. This is a lethal condition, that causes imense suffering in animals and humans alike, before death.

The finding is important not just because it teaches us that Homo Erectus ate meat, since you can get that illness only by eating the liver of animals.

It is more important, because the size of the bone deficiencies indicate that the female survived in extreme pain during weeks, if not months. Because that illness is incapacitating, that means that someone took care of her, and acompanied her in her death bed.

That is the first sign of human love. Without it, we might have not evolved :)

Edit: http://home.entouch.net/dmd/compass.htm

Just google "homo erectus hypervitaminosis"

What do you mean higher plane? As a highly specialized (moreso than other animals) way to ensure the survival of the individual and propogation of the spoecies kinda way? It seems that some of these emotions are detrimental to us, like depression. Love seems to work for and against us. I wonder if some emotions are really emotions at all and not something that we were trained to feel.

what I mean by higher plane is on a higher level of the evolutionary ladder. We are more complex creature then anything else on our planet.

Yes some animals communicate with each other
Yes some animals use tools
Yes some animals show more complex emotions.
Yes some animal form communities
Now how many species do all of these things. I can only think of one that combines all these criteria.
We also are the only species to have formal language.
Have ways of storing information outside of our own brains.
Create culture
Etc...etc...etc

what I mean by higher plane is on a higher level of the evolutionary ladder. We are more complex creature then anything else on our planet.

Yes some animals communicate with each other
Yes some animals use tools
Yes some animals show more complex emotions.
Yes some animal form communities
Now how many species do all of these things. I can only think of one that combines all these criteria.
We also are the only species to have formal language.
Have ways of storing information outside of our own brains.
Create culture
Etc...etc...etc


I agree with you on the language bit, but I think the term complex is extremely relative - fish have sense organs that detect electrical currents and relative pressures that give them 3-d maps to navigate. Birds migrate unerringly across thousands of miles every year and even their young do, some say by judging day-length or polarised light or the magnetic field. Other animals track prey by echo location... I could go on...

Suffice to say I think complex is a really relative word, and just because we emote don't not make us better or worse than other species, especially on an evolutionary scale (worms are just as "evolved" as us)