Evolutionary Basis To Emotions

Emotion in humans is a universal concept yet a singular definition of the word remains dubious. Emotions may be a natural reaction to a situation or a behaviour that we have learnt through environmental factors, therefore the concept of emotion falls under the nature-nurture debate as scientists continue to research it’s evolutionary or social basis. Arguably if emotions are learnt via the environment, research has argued that emotions are consciously performed as the brain looks for the appropriate behaviour for each social situation. On the other hand, other research has refuted this idea and stated that emotions have evolved over time and hence are performed at an unconscious biological level. Hence, it can be argued that there is both a social and evolutionary basis to

Darwin developed the theory of 6 universal faces; happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger and disgust. This became the starting point for the evolutionary approach to emotional expressions. As Darwin stated the expressions were developed over time and became an innate behaviour when responding to situations. This supports the idea that emotions are an unconscious signal of a person’s emotion as emotion has evolved into an innate behaviour. Research has since supported the evolutionary approach. Sackeim, Gur & Saucy (1978) conducted an experiment where photos with different facial expressions were shown. Participants had to rate the intensity of the expression shown using a scale. It was found that the left side of the face expressed more intense emotion than the right side. Sackeim et al (1978) suggested that there was more intense emotion on the left side of the face due to evolution, as compensation was needed for an inferior left hemisphere in facial recognition and emotion processing. This cross-culturally applicable result supports the idea of evolved emotions