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Emotion theory

Basic Emotions

The four most common emotions on theorists' lists, and the basic states of Commedia dell'arte, are fear (or terror, shock, surprise), anger (or rage), sorrow (or sadness), and joy (happiness, glee).

fear, anger, sorrow, joy, and disgust, acceptance, anticipation, and surprise. Inclusion is based on relevance to adaptive biological processes (i.e. evolution).

Physical Evolution

In other works, mammals are said to be capable of emotion due to several forebrain (prosencephalon) areas at the heart of the limbic system being adapted from being used for smell, to being used for emotion. These generate emotions for parental care, playfulness, and vocal calling (MacLean 1990).

These changes are said to have come into play about 150 million years ago.

Senses and modeling areas of the brain stimulate the emotive areas. These in turn appear to affect other areas of the brain that affect glands, which create a chemical output (for instance, opiates), resulting in sensations (in this instance, pleasure).

Birds appear to have emotive ability similar to mammals. This begs the question of whether the dinosaurs also had emotive ability. Modern fish and reptiles are believed to have no measurable emotive ability.

Whether the way communal insects work could be considered emotional is probably the subject of debate, but the argument can be made.

In proportion to brain size, humans appear have the largest limbic system of any vertebrate, making them the potentially the most emotional animals.

The frontal lobes are where most abstract modeling goes on. This allows creatures so-equipped to model the feelings of others, to model dangerous situations, and more. This is interesting because the more powerful the modeling center, the more complex the emotive ability should become.

Evolutionary Advantages

The advantages to being capable of emotion include:

• Enhanced ability to care for young
• Enhanced ability to cooperate with others of the same species
• Reduced competition with others of same species
• Added ability for discrimination among situations

Many animals can bond to their young and take care of them, and thus gain flexibility in their reproduction strategies.

Animals can herd together and react in more complicated ways to threats and situations. Thus they both cooperate together better, and don't compete as destructively against others of their own species.

They can form a hierarchy and this forms another reproductive strategy when the dominant animal gains more reproductive rights.

They can form aversions, or preferences, to shapes, colors, smells, and more. This gives an additional tool for recognizing better mates, better food, and avoiding danger.

In humans, with our complex communication methods, the modeling of others' feelings would seem to be particularly important. There are known cases of minor damage to the frontal lobe, which caused disruption to its communication to the rearward parts of the brain. Major behavioral changes are often observed in the people damaged, such that they are no longer emotionally equipped to function well in society.

In a situation where people are living at subsistence level and must group together to survive, these abilities allow them to get along. If it's a situation where individuals will inevitably die if cast out, it becomes a major evolutionary advantage to model others emotively well enough to not be cast out.