What is the evolutionary significance of Sadness?

Answer 1

sadness is a form of downtime when we encounter a difficult problem and need time to resolve it in a low -stimulus state.

Answer 2

I would think it relates to the fact that with the development of a certain type of function brains (humans and animals - not just humans) and with the associated increased capacity for thinking and emotions came also the capacity for joy and sadness. I'd assume that this is because the increased intelligence brought with it increased emotional needs and attachment, and when those needs are not met or the attachment is violated in some way sadness occurs.

I would assume that the state of sadness could lead a creature to either find ways to alleviate that sadness or else could possibly lead to illness and/or death as a result of something like a lack of a will to live.

I would assume that if a creature attempts to alleviate sadness by correcting a situation or by seeking out other creatures acting on that challenge would result in increased intelligence (in the first case) and reproduction in the second. Perhaps there is a relationship between how intellligent (and skilled at understanding one's own and others' needs) a creature is and how well it overcomes sadness and whether that creature survives longer and has a longer time to procreate.

Perhaps the less skilled creature that loses the will to live and either remains in isolation or dies, which would mean that the more intellectually advanced of a species (particularly humans) would lay the foundation for the future of that species.

With the tendency for more advanced brain development would come the need for more advanced ability to understand/deal with the accompanying increased sophistication of intellectual/emotional matters; so it would make sense that the creature who attempts to alleviate sadness would have an advantage.

Another thing, though, could be this: With sadness comes a set of hormones associated with it. Appetites can be decreased, loss of interest in procreation can occur, the brain can be "put on hold" by being numbed in sadness. This could amount to a situation where a creature is "on hold" and less likely to procreate while sad. After all, there's the chance that a sad mother could affect her unborn child; and more importantly, a sad mother is less likely to be a good enough mother to a child once it is a newborn.

There are probably other answers to be added, and maybe there is a simpler "at-the-root" answer that would better describe what I've said - but those are my off-the-top-of-the-head guesses.

Answer 3

Melancholy gives the soul an opportunity to express a side of its nature that is as valid as any other, but is hidden out of distaste for its darkness and bitterness.

Today we seem to prefer the word Depression over Sadness and Melancholy.
Perhaps its Latin form sounds more clinical and serious.
But there was a time, five or six hundred years ago, when melancholy was identified with the Roman god Saturn.
To be depressed was to be "in Saturn," and a person chronically disposed to melancholy was known as a "child of Saturn."

Since depression was identified with the god and the planet named for him, it was associated with other qualities of Saturn. For example, he was known as the "old man," who presided over the golden age.
Whenever we talk about the "golden years" or the "good old days," we are calling up this god, who is the patron of the past. The depressed person sometimes thinks that the good times are all past, that there is nothing left for the present or the future. These melancholic thoughts are deeply rooted in Saturn's preference for days gone by, for memory and the sense that time is passing.
These thoughts and feelings, sad as they are, favour the soul's desire to be both in time and in eternity, and so in a strange way they can be pleasing.

Depression grants the gift of experience not as a literal fact but as an attitude toward yourself. You get a sense of having lived through something, of being older and wiser. You know that life is suffering, and that knowledge makes a difference. You can't enjoy the bouncy, carefree innocence of youth any longer, a realization that entails both sadness because of the loss, and pleasure in a new feeling of self-acceptance and self-knowledge. This awareness of age has a halo of melancholy around it, but it also enjoys a measure of nobility.

http://www.awakening-intuition.com/GiftsofDepression.html

Answer 4

Interesting question, and probably very high. It's not completely decided if averagely-sized mammals like dogs can 'really' be sad or feel sadness. But the larger ones, like elephants, can display alarming similarities when it comes to depression. I remember one sad story about an elephant who became so depressed when her mate died, she lay down and pretty much gave up living!

Answer 5

It's when the primate or hominine distinguishes between presumed Good and presumed Evil because he inherites tribal prejudices, or call it uses, and totem and taboo appears. Henceforth, he or she assumes his behaviour and feels guilty because of the Good not done or the Evil (always in presumtion) done. Existentialists (Kierkegaard) think in this pessimistic way: to choose is always to renounce for human creature. From this, sadness appears. But come on, enjoy life.

Answer 6

You need to be able to feel sadness, pain, anger and fear in order to have a good chance at survival. You could live without them, but
not for long.
The goal of evolution is not to make people happy. It's to enable them to
survive and reproduce. Therefore, while "negative" emotions are certainly
unpleasant, we have to recognize that they exist for our benefit.

Answer 7

I am pretty sure that every animal bigger than lambs can experience sadness. Bugs don't, at least those that belong to a hive system. And plants don't either, since they don't even have brains.

Answer 8

Probably a low ability to generate good dopamine levels
Essentially it is a misbehaving chemical system within you affecting your nervous system negatively.

Answer 9

There probably isn't one, though it's somehow spreading Everywhere!

Maybe sad people have shorter life spans?