Is Emotion irrelevant to Evolution? And, if so, why is Emotion so highly valued by Humanity?

Question

What am I talking about?

For example: We Humans remember when something has caused us pain. This memory of pain is necessary for self-preservation. It keeps us from repeating actions that cause physical harm. But, from a *psychological* perspective, the memory of pain causes more damage than the pain itself. So, it seems that evolution discounts emotion, yet we revere it. Your thoughts?

[ I’m interested in evolutionary, psychological, and philosophical viewpoints, but I’m also perfectly willing to accept straight opinion. :-) ]

There were MANY interesting answers, thank you to everyone for your time and thought!

I agree with the point made by “Middle Class White Male” (We love you too.) and (the ironically named) “I’m Not That Smart” that emotion leads to cooperation, when improves a species chances of survival. I also agree with ’s point: emotion is the dance of reproduction (“YAmotions”—LOL!). Labrug best answered “why is emotion revered?”—it is the basis of human achievement. But the heart of my question, stated much more clearly by Mad Mac was “what advantage does a hard-wired emotion that can destroy the body have for survival to reproductive success?”

I think , albeit indirectly, best answered that question by movie reference. And the answer, I believe is “it has no advantage”. However, evolution is more concerned with the well-being of the species than the well-being of one individual. Given the choice between total *lack* of emotion, and the full range of negative and positive emotions, the latter is more beneficial to evolution and to Humanity.

Answer 1

If Procreation (i.e. the continuation of Life) is the ultimate objective of "The Evolutionary Game", then emotions aren't merely the incentives, but also the inherent tools [AND the rules] of engagement.


Allow me to offer you a Y!A analogy, to illustrate the point:


If Bottom-line (i.e. the continuation of the steady stream of Income for Yahoo) is the ultimate objective of "The Oracle's Y!A Game of predominantly cheap trills [okay, twist my arms - entertainment] dressed as knowledge", then *the stars*, *the point system*, *the levels*, *the suspensions*, *the Terms of Service*, and *the Community Guidelines* (herein collectively referred to as "YAmotions"), aren't merely the incentives, but also the inherent tools [AND the rules] of engagement.
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Is Evolution possible WITHOUT Emotions?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e13yU_LQluk
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Answer 2

Emotion is the diarchy of society, where a two party agenda is contemplated as a decision. For instance, suppose someone is ugly and unattractive, then they may feel somewhat fickle when in the company of more attractive people. This crucial sensation if slid into an survivalist perspective seems disadvantageous, as it does not list as a survival adaptation, but more of a liability. However, in group theory, this particular emotion is clearly a sensible fit as the unattractive person would feel inclined to supress his airs and charms in the light of better suitors and therefore improved chances of group survival.

The psychological perspective of suffering from trauma as a damaging thing seems to be true, at first glance. But, examining further, clinging on to the experience seems utterly sensible, in an evolution that is not long lived. Sifting to the dark ages, where life spans were short and people were few, it would seem as a smart adaptation if a person is able to recognize pain, or the memory of it in a particular circumstance and therefore not subject himself to that pain again, thus giving him more berth in the search space. Having marked it as a bad block, to use a computer analogy, the person does not make any effort to retrieve from that block, but insted sequences into the next block. This particular design is most efficient in programs that have to be fast and do not have huge memories.

Humans not only value emotion but style themselves avidly by emotion. Making the point, emotions are communicational and negotiational adaptations that are highly fitted to a society and it's accord, instilling in it a group survival code which it's members give credence to.

Answer 3

Emotions are a deep subject; I read about 10-11 of the answers to this and I don;t think any one of them really appreciated what an emotion is. An emotion is an intense feeling and as a feeling it is not definable in material ways. There are 6-8 basic emotions (those you inherit or are born with.) They include, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Disgust, Depression, Happiness and Curiosity. There are scores of learned emotions and Love is, oddly, considered one of these.

Evolution is mostly defined in material ways. The only way to make an emotion relevent to evolution defined thus is to assume they are genetic in nature, That is they are assumed to be hard-wired into us. I have trouble with this. I can't see the survival benefit of the negative emotion, depression. Depression can kill; what advantage does a hard-wired emotion that can destroy the body have for survival to reproductive success?

I have the same problem with aging. How can aging to ultimately die have evolved if it does not give some survival value and when a mate dies the other mate may be so depressed it perishes (kills itself) and jeopardizes the survival of any progeny.

As for the reasons emotions are so highly valued is that the couple of the basic ones that are positive (Happiness Curiosity and maybe Surprise) are so enjoyable they give "spice to life" just as spices and salt make food more enjoyable. Evolution fits in with this because a happy person is more fit to reproduce.

Good luck with your emotions, good mental health, peace and Love!

I assume by "pain" you mean mental pain or depression (sadness) not physical pain which is not an emotion.

Answer 4

Emotion is adaptive and important to evolution.

People who have had damage to their emotional centers in the brain have a terrible time making preference decisions. They can't choose easily between say eating an apple or an orange.

Also, our emotions tell us when something is wrong. Anger and sadness are alerts to us that we should get out of a situation. Unfortunately, our social obligations often prevent us from doing this. Further, if we suffer too much negative emotion in a situation, it can almost in a weird way make us "comfortable" with our strife and we fall into a pattern.

And the reason we revere emotion is because we view it as unique to humans.

Answer 5

Homo sapiens (us humans) have the ability to feel emotion. So do our evulutionary friends, monkeis. This is not relevent to emotion becuz every human has a differed emotion on differed thinggs. Like for instance, if a bomb went off and killed Bush some would be happy, some would be terrified. Evolution deals with some thing that every human has. The emotion of pain and suffering as you said is not in everybody. Some people are hard hearted and don't feel any emotions. And some like my self are sensitive not to pain but to direct emotional pain like you know, i cant name one right now but u get the idea. Emotion is not evolutionary.

Answer 6

Emotion in all respects, if handled in a cooperative environment, becomes the cause of increased concern for the welfare of the whole species, and hence its survival.

In stressed, and combatant's environments, then emotion is either the impetus toward a total annihilation of that society/culture, or, if handled intelligently, reflective of the needs of the conditions, then its the cause of the transformation of that society towards more mutually assuring goals, and hence its survival.

In all three cases, including the destructive, it is the cause of ensuring the quality of persons involved in an evolutionary sense, if we allow for those persons who are not ideally suited for one current environment, being alive because an alternative environment may be sought, or strike any moment, in which those strange persons are in fact ideal, at least as a catalyst for the rest of society to adapt.

That is my opinion on the matter, and I believe it is consistent with ethics, and evident facts. Without thorough education of the intelligence then the destructive options tends to predominate. When education is broad, and universal, then the first and third cases result, depending upon the stemming circumstance.

God bless.

Answer 7

Tough question.... especially for a layman like me. Let me just register my thoughts on this topic for whatever they may be worth.

I think emotion is a prime motivator in human life, which is why we can not but give importance to it. It exerts a major influence on our decisions and moreover, on the same count proves to be a potent lever to influence others... in that respect it proves to be extremely valuable for human objectives closely interlinked with social way of life.

Emotions, to the extent they can be instinctive have also a great role in evolutionary developments. The emotion of instinctive fear is clearly designed to minimize risks to survival. In the ultimate analysis, it is repetitive actions that shape the minuscule evolutionary changes over a sustained period of time... therefore, consistent and persistent emotion that motivates repetitive actions in response, can not be discounted by the evolutionary process. However, emotions that are reactive rather than instinctive may not have the required consistency and persistence to influence evolution.

Hope this makes some sense.

Answer 8

Emotion is more than pain. It's happiness, comfort, fear, love, etc...

To say the memory of pain causes more damage than pain itself is far too broad of a statement. There are certain cases of severe trauma where this is true, but the pain of a thorn or a bite from an animal or from eating the wrong food has teaching potential.

Answer 9

Emotion is the one thing that seperates us from animals. Have you seen "Out of Africa," where the Robert Redford character describes the lion mating, "it's always as if it was the first time"...We are thinking, feeling, human beings, not animals. It's time that men stopped trying to put the blame on being an animal. Recent surveys say that is why they die sooner than us females; because they pursue sex wherever they can find it. If they spent all this time on the one they committed to, most of us wouldn't be here right now.

Answer 10

In terms of shear evolution, emotion should not and by definition cannot be swayed by emotion. evelution is that nature course for all beings. To grow and adapt with the ultimate goal of perfection.

However, in terms of emotion. Without it, humanity could not be as such. Emotion, though as you staited can be very destructive. at the same time can drive us foward. allowing us to become more then what only eveolution has allowed. In terms of evolution. Humans are capable of higher think, and the awareness of self. But that wont let us invent, or creat beauty. passion and determination allow for that. so in a sense that must be hand in hand. for without emotion we will never be able to servive long enough to see the ultimate end of our evolutionary track.