4. Gratitude
(McCullough et al., 2008)
- Benefit detector: “Gratitude is an affective readout that alerts people that they
have benefited from another person’s prosocial behavior.”
- Motivator of prosocial behavior: “It motivates people to behave prosocially after
receiving benefits.”
- Reinforcer: “Expressions of gratitude…increase the likelihood that benefactors
will behave prosocially in the future.”
Emotion expression
Emotion experience
6. Reactive functions.
Emotion experiences convey potent information about fitness-relevant
opportunities or threats in the immediate environment, motivating functionally
useful behavioral reactions.
Example: Happiness.
- Motivates approach-oriented reaction.
- Increases likelihood of beneficial
outcome.
Example: Disgust.
- Motivates avoidant reaction.
- Decreases likelihood of costly
outcome.
7. Proactive functions.
Emotion experiences are experienced subjectively as rewarding or
punishing, motivating functionally useful decision-making in the future.
Example: Happiness.
- Rewarding experience.
- Motivates future decision-making that
increases likelihood of encountering
similar situations.
Example: Disgust.
- Punishing experience.
- Motivates future decision-making that
decreases likelihood of encountering
similar situations.
8. Jealousy
“Selection has favored the evolution of defenses to fend of mate
poachers, to deter a mate’s sexual infidelity, and to retain a mate
for the long run… The emotion of jealousy…evolved to deal with
these adaptive problems.”
[Reproductively-beneficial outcome: Retain access to mate]
React to immediate threat
posed by rivals
Future decision-making
that helps maintain
long-term access to mate
Immediate threat
posed by rivals
Jealousy
9. Jealousy
“Selection has favored the evolution of defenses to fend of mate
poachers, to deter a mate’s sexual infidelity, and to retain a mate
for the long run… The emotion of jealousy…evolved to deal with
these adaptive problems.”
[Reproductively-beneficial outcome: Retain access to mate’s valued resources]
Immediate threat
posed by rivals
for mate’s valued
resources
Jealousy
React to immediate threat
posed by rivals for mate’s
valued resources
Future decision-making
that helps maintain
long-term access to mate’s
valued resources
11. Example: Fear expression.
- Increased visual field and increased
speed of eye movements.
- Helps track threatening things.
- Protection against threats.
Example: Disgust expression.
- Decreased access to inside of body
through mouth, nose, eyes.
- Helps reduce entry of pathogens.
- Protection against infection.
Physiological functions.
Muscle movements that characterize emotion expressions can be functionally
useful reactions to immediate circumstances.
12. Communicative functions.
Emotion expressions can communicate useful information to others
(which, indirectly, can have benefits for self).
- Information about behavioral intentions.
- Information about presence of something that’s functionally significant.
- Information about why something is functional significant.
14. Pride and social status
Higher status provided greater access to fitness-relevant resources.
Especially if:
- Behaviors that availed oneself of opportunities provided by high status.
- Behaviors that maintained high status.
- Other individuals are aware of one’s high status.
Pride
expression
Circumstances
connoting high
status
Effects on
testosterone (?)
& lung capacity
Others are more
likely to make
resources available
Communicates
own high status
to others
Potentially useful
social behaviors
and outcomes
15. Pride and social status
Some relevant evidence:
- Pride expressions resemble dominance displays in other species.
- People spontaneously display pride expressions under circumstances
that connote high status.
- Observers’ implicitly infer high status from others’ pride expressions.
