UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS FROM AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE

Emotions can be better understood if viewed from an evolutionary perspective. Our current human emotions are a result of thousands of years of human evolution. They are part of our ever-evolving human brain. As stated above, they are a physiological response to some external stimuli that facilitated actions beneficial for the survival of the group or the individual. We have six basic emotions hardwired into our human brains: anger, fear, surprise, sadness (distress), happiness (joy), and disgust. Each of these served to enable the propagation of our species and the continued spreading of our genes in some fashion.