Evolutionary Psychology and Emotion

Tanisha TatumKali Thomas

Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGYyEtZeKpE

Evolution of the Brain

• The brain has evolved domain-specific programs to solve adaptive problems– Ex. Facial recognition and heart rate regulation

• These programs may help each other– Ex. Increased auditory acuity and alertness can

help when there is a predator present• BUT they can hinder each other as well

– Ex. If you fall asleep when a predator is near, you could DIE

So…What did the brain do?

• The brain evolved superordinate programs to manage the other programs

• They evolved specific instructions for how your physiology, feelings, and behavior should interact in specific situations

• These superordinate programs are EMOTIONS

How did emotions evolve?

• Emotions evolved in situations with the following conditions and only these conditions

1. They recurred ancestrally2. They could not be negotiated successfully

without a superordinate program3. They had a reliable repeated structure4. They had consistent recognizable cues5. An error would have caused great harm to the

individual’s fitness.

Example• The situation of having a mate and having that mate have

sex with someone else. • This situation occurred often over time and constitutes

infidelity. • Evolutionary Problem: threatens the mate’s chance for

reproductive success/ sperm competition. • Cues: observing a sexual act, flirtation and then even

associated elements, once you suspect your mate is cheating you think you may have been lied too, that your mate may have had sex with someone else, etc..

• The emotion that evolved from this: Sexual Jealousy• Sexual Jealousy- prepares you for things such as violence,

sperm competition, withdrawal of investment, murdering the rival emerges

Characterizing Emotion• To characterize an emotion adaptation:1. An evolutionarily recurrent situation or condition. Examples: depleted nutritional state, competing for

maternal attention, being chased by a predator, experiencing death etc…

2. The adaptive problem: what is the best course of action when others take the products of your labor without your consent? Basically asks, what the problem is and what the best course of action is.

3. Cues that signal the presence of a situation: for example, low blood sugar signals a depleted nutritional state, seeing your mate having sex with another signal sexual infidelity

Communication and Emotions• Many emotions produce characteristic displays

that broadcast to others the emotional state of the individual.

• Many emotional expressions appear to be designed to be informative and these have been so reliably informative that humans also evolved automated interpreters of facial displays of emotions that decode these public displays into knowledge of others mental states.

• SO WE KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET EACH OTHER’S MENTAL STATE!

What is the point of expressions?1. Provides observers with information about the state of that individual’s

mental programs and physiology2. Identify the evolutionarily recurrent situation being faced• Some emotions are signaled w/expressions and some or not, WHY?

– There was a net benefit or cost to having others know that mental state, so they averaged out.

– For the situations that occurred often, it was beneficial to know one’s face. Example: fear was probably beneficial to signal because it signaled the presence of danger, danger that might effect one’s kin or friends.

– When selection is neutral, signs of an emotion should only be a byproducts of whatever is necessary to run the emotion.

– When selection disfavors others knowing how we feel, selection should suppress & obscure external cures identifying internal states.

– SELECTION PRESSURES RESULTED IN: some emotions would be automatically broadcast, other’s would not evolve a signal and others would evolve circuits that regulate whether or not you want to show emotions, such as with language.

Quiz Time!1. All adaptive programs work together efficiently without any executive

organization. T/F?2. Emotions function as a solution designed to take advantage of a recurrent situation

or triggering condition. T/F?3. Why are facial expressions important?

a) They help to attract a mate.b) They help organize our adaptive programs.c) They provide people with information about our physiology and the current

situation.4. According to this article, why do some emotions lack facial expressions and other's

don't? a) Only important emotions have expressionsb) Varied selection pressures in the ancestral situationsc) Neither, all emotions have expression

1. F 2.T 3. c 4. b

References

• Comides, L., & Tooby, J. Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In M. Lewis, & J.M.Haviland-Jones (Ed.), Handbook of Emotions (pp. 91-114). New York: Guilford.