In chapters 8, 9, 10, and quite frankly throughout the entire novel, Shubin describes the evolutionary process that took place to give us the organs that we humans possess today. He goes in depth to describe the pressures put on organisms by the environment, forcing some selective advantages to be present in certain members of the species.
An aspect of evolutionary development that Shubin does not address in depth, probably due to the lack of evidence in fossils for these traits, is the advent of emotions in organisms. Logically, there must have existed some selective advantage for humans to become capable of expressing significant emotion, ranging from sadness to anger to happiness. What selective advantages do emotions provide? What environmental pressures might have caused the development of these emotions and feelings? Is it possible that other species of mammals possess the same emotional capacity?
(Vickram Pradhan vickram.pradhan@yahoo.com)
Humans have emotions in order to better communicate with the ones around them and themselves. Since there is a more likely survival of organisms when they live in packs, it was important for them to have a connection to each other and the deepest way is through emotions. Emotions are often used in species that have reciprocal altruism (one organism helps another it has never met in hope that the other individual will return the favor one day) as it allows for these actions do more than natural selection as the caring behavior is innate with emotions. Even less developed organisms often have a way to communicate to each others, like dogs. These organisms also usually can use different sounds in order to indicate something different which further developed into humans to being able to express deeper feelings. Before language was created, humans needed some way to be able to express emergencies, mating behavior, and other events that could be vital to survival, so the first step was having feelings that are strong enough to be able to show through muscles in the face.
ReplyDeleteEmotions are helpful in the way that it helps organisms with associative learning as even if the action did not have or had little physical pain involved in the result, they are still able to identify and stay away from activities that seem like a threat. This is similar to a subconscious net to protect an organism from a danger before it becomes life threatening. Since, “Emotions are automatic consequences of a mind's past conclusions” (http://www.skysite.org/philo.html), so it allows an organism from making the same mistakes constantly as there is more than physical pain, as there is now emotional too.
(Jackie James jackie.james@comcast.net)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJackie mentioned that emotions help with learning and reacting to different scenarios. She was correct, but didn't mention exactly how this is done. Emotions not only take place in our mind, but also in our bodies. Emotions motivate us to do some sort of action, and change our body. When we get nervous or angry, adrenaline makes our muscles tighten, and our blood vessels dilate to increase heart rate. Animals whose emotions make their bodies better prepared to survive in a given environment hold a significant advantage over those without emotions. During the course of evolution, animals who become alert, tense, and sharp when danger is around have a better chance of relaxing during times of safety, and therefore reproducing with greater success from not being eaten.
ReplyDeleteAnother benefit of having emotions, like Jackie said, was that it became easier to communicate with other creatures, creating a social environment for ourselves. Our emotions, or more specifically our expression of those emotions, are vital to our communication with others. We have 30 muscles in our face that "have the sole purpose of signaling emotion to other people" (changing minds). The evolutionary advantages of living in social groups are certainly large enough to give social organisms a better chance at survival. In certain environments, such as the tropical rainforests, animals like monkeys and apes gain greater success with catching food if they are in groups. In the skies, birds form social environments to conserve energy, flying in formation to help reduce drag. Social behavior arises only in environments where social behavior is a benefit. Emotions and social behavior are just like any other environmental adaptation: they arose because their environment was better suited for those adaptations as opposed to others.
http://www.drmillslmu.com/EVOLPSYC/fall00/panel9.htm
http://changingminds.org/explanations/emotions/emotion_purpose.htm
Jeremy Solomon
imabum14@gmail.com
All these are excellent points, but there are a few things I would like to add. To understand emotion, it is ideal to first define it. According to textbook used for the AP Psychology course that SHS offers, emotion is the sum of "a subjective conscious experience, a physiological arousal, and an overt expression of behavior." (Weiten, 405). Yes, emotions do help organisms communicate and react, but it is far more than just that. Emotions are what make organisms alive.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned by Jeremy, there are internal and external dimensions of emotions, but he did not mention the third part: cognitive experience. It is from the sensation of the external stimuli and perception by internal mechanisms that physiological arousal and overt behavior and be elicited. Think of the stickleback fish example from early first semester. By perceiving a red object as the signal, a series of physiological and behavioral phenomenon occur that make the fish elicit aggressive behavior. This is a prime example of emotion in animals.
Now lets look at this idea from an evolutionary standpoint. Charles Darwin believed that "emotions developed because of their adaptive value." (Weiten, 413). Fear, for instance, would help an organism avoid danger and thus aid in survival. The same holds true for the aggressive behavior of the stickleback that is elicited when another red stickleback threatens to encroach on its territory. Since these behaviors had such adaptive value, they lived on through generations of organisms, which is how they eventual reached humans.
Weiten, W., & Halpern, D. (2004). Motivation
and Emotion. Psychology: Themes and Variation 6th Edition, 10, 405-413
Troy Glickstern
cleverstar8@comcast.net
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePerhaps to further the debate and discussion, I also wonder about the evolutionary significance of depression. As depression leads individuals to committ suicide, preventing them from reproducing, it doesn't seem logical in an evolutionary sense for humans to feel sadness. Like the anger and happiness mentioned in posts above, why would sadness be an important emotion?
ReplyDeleteThe following post has been seperated in order to meet character requirements
ReplyDeleteVickram, you pose an extremely interesting question. It would seemingly be against all logic that sadness and anxiety would evolve as human emotions to better our race. However, I believe that before that question can truly be answered, it is important to understand that this modern world we live in is not the same as the one that the human race evolved in. Throughout our past, we never specifically evolved to use cell phones, watch TV, or play XBOX (1). And now, it might just be that the rate at which technology develops and grows exceeds the rate at which we could possibly evolve to accommodate the new technological advances. This difference from the culture of cavemen to businessmen might actually lead to the formation of a new field of study called “the mismatch theory” (1). Of course, the irony remains that the very same technology that may be destroying our race will be used to study how it has changed.
The fact remains though that like all emotions, sadness may not have evolved. It is impossible to know whether other specie feel sadness. Yet many show clear and obvious signs of emotion. If a dog isn’t fed on time it is likely to get angry. If a cat is abused by a human, it will hide in fright. If a dog is left alone for hours it will mope, then yelp in excitement when its owners return home. This might show that sadness is a just a part of life for all animals. Our ability to change our environment around us more than any other species undoubtedly increases the range and depth of these emotions. In that way, the selective advantages that grew our race whether it is brain size, the ability to stand straight up, or any other reason, might actually be the same reason for suicide, murder, hatred, and despair. Furthermore, species that come from internal fertilization and grow up with parental care will be victims to an innate sense of sadness when they become unwillingly separated from their care givers. This obviously affects a wide range of animals besides humans. Another factor that leads to sadness is defeat in a battle for dominance (2). It is easy to see how this affects humans. For example, when the Blackhawks, needing a victory over the Red Wings to ensure a playoff spot, loss to their rivals 4-3, they felt a deep sense of despair, anger, and disappointment. The same can most likely be said for a turtle flipped onto its back after losing to one of its peers for the right to mate with a female. Perhaps what is much more significant to our race is the development of suicide.
From a strictly scientific point of view, suicide might not be a bad thing. It is unfortunate and upsetting to look at it this way. However, given what we know about natural selection, suicide might actually benefit the race as a whole. The beginning of evolution starts as variation in society. This variation means a difference between members. Whenever there is any kind of difference between two groups, the difference will be beneficial to one party and damaging to the other. Sometimes, just the fact that one group received a benefit causes the other group to be at a disadvantage. However, it would seem to reason that the selective advantage that cause the change in society works both ways. That is to say that it is possible for a selective disadvantage to occur. For example, the ability to feel a deep sense of emotion and be vulnerable to these feelings can allow people to understand how others feel and could maybe result in a successful career as a psychiatrist. However, this becomes a selective disadvantage when this great sense of feeling results in extreme despair. Suicide can result from this selective advantage. The way that this might benefit society is if a selective disadvantage resulted in weak minded individuals. As I mentioned before, this is a tough way to interpret suicide. However, if those that are weak minded were to kill themselves, it would technically benefit society. Those that are strong minded would have a better ability to access resources and keep reproducing and thus passing on their strong minded genes. In fact, Darwin himself suffered from depression and acknowledged that this might lead to his downside. He reflected that due to the weakness of the mind that ran in his family, he might “do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in Science” (3). Of course, history has shown that Darwin was in fact quite brilliant and important to science, but even he knew the dangers of being weak. In fact, his depression was only alleviated when he became deeply engrossed in his work. Maybe depression is a selective advantage after all (3).
ReplyDelete1. http://www.alamut.com/subj/evolution/evol_psych/wrightDespair.html
2. http://center-for-nonverbal-studies.org/sadness.htm
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.html?_r=1
-Robbie Thomashow
(diehardcubsfan93@comcast.net)