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Emotions as Adaptation

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Jochen Fromm-4

Emotions as Adaptation

Do you think that the high diversity of individual emotions,
can be considered as an evolutionary adaptation ? I have
written a short post about it, which tries to summarize
some thoughts of Frijda, Smith and Lazarus. Do
you agree with Lazarus' "Core Relational Themes" ?
http://blog.cas-group.net/2010/04/emotions-as-adaptation/

-J.

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Nick Thompson

Re: Emotions as Adaptation

Jochen,

I tend to think of emotions as regulations. What makes them vary among
people is that people live in different worlds (well, different "slices" of
the same world) and have different regulator set points, determined both by
their experience and innate physiology.

I will have a look at the post.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University ([hidden email])
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

> [Original Message]
> From: Jochen Fromm <[hidden email]>
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
> Date: 4/4/2010 8:27:05 AM
> Subject: [FRIAM] Emotions as Adaptation
>
> Do you think that the high diversity of individual emotions,
> can be considered as an evolutionary adaptation ? I have
> written a short post about it, which tries to summarize
> some thoughts of Frijda, Smith and Lazarus. Do
> you agree with Lazarus' "Core Relational Themes" ?
> http://blog.cas-group.net/2010/04/emotions-as-adaptation/
>
> -J.
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Jochen Fromm-4

Re: Emotions as Adaptation

Yes, regulation or moderation is probably correct.
The mechanism is the same in everybody, what
differs are the subjective experiences.

You are right, the "different slice of the same world"
aspect is responsible for subjective experience and
the famous "qualia" problem. William James said
"The peculiarity of our experiences, that they not only
are, but are known, which their 'conscious' quality is
invoked to explain, is better explained by their
relations - these relations themselves being
experiences - to one another."

Subjective experience seems to depend on individual
memories: each perception is linked to similar perceptions
one has experienced before. Since every person has a
slightly different history resulting in different
memories and experiences, each person has a unique,
individual subjective experience, dependent on his
individual slice of the world.

-J.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicholas Thompson" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2010 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emotions as Adaptation

> Jochen,
>
> I tend to think of emotions as regulations. What makes them vary among
> people is that people live in different worlds (well, different "slices"
> of
> the same world) and have different regulator set points, determined both
> by
> their experience and innate physiology.
>
> I will have a look at the post.
>
> Nick
>

Nick Thompson

Re: Emotions as Adaptation

In reply to this post by Jochen Fromm-4

Jochen,

Are you at all familiar with the New Realists, a group of James' students
and associates who wrote a manifesto in 1914 which took of from James in
the direction of direct realism.

They spawned two of the most famous American pyschologists, James Gibson
and Edward Tolman.

n

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University ([hidden email])
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

> [Original Message]
> From: Jochen Fromm <[hidden email]>
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
> Date: 4/5/2010 6:59:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emotions as Adaptation
>
> Yes, regulation or moderation is probably correct.
> The mechanism is the same in everybody, what
> differs are the subjective experiences.
>
> You are right, the "different slice of the same world"
> aspect is responsible for subjective experience and
> the famous "qualia" problem. William James said
> "The peculiarity of our experiences, that they not only
> are, but are known, which their 'conscious' quality is
> invoked to explain, is better explained by their
> relations - these relations themselves being
> experiences - to one another."
>
> Subjective experience seems to depend on individual
> memories: each perception is linked to similar perceptions
> one has experienced before. Since every person has a
> slightly different history resulting in different
> memories and experiences, each person has a unique,
> individual subjective experience, dependent on his
> individual slice of the world.
>
> -J.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Nicholas Thompson" <[hidden email]>
> To: <[hidden email]>
> Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2010 5:23 PM
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emotions as Adaptation
>
>
> > Jochen,
> >
> > I tend to think of emotions as regulations. What makes them vary among
> > people is that people live in different worlds (well, different

"slices"
> > of
> > the same world) and have different regulator set points, determined
both

> > by
> > their experience and innate physiology.
> >
> > I will have a look at the post.
> >
> > Nick
> >
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Jochen Fromm-4

Re: Emotions as Adaptation

Sorry for the late response, no, I was not
familiar with the New Realists. I guess you mean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_realism_(philosophy)
After nearly 100 years, the "new realism" from
James' scholars (Holt, Perry, et al.) seems to have
become a bit old, some of their ideas seem to be
obvious today, but others are still interesting
and seem to be worth studying. The very fact that
they belong to the generation of the founders of
modern Psychology makes them interesting.

-J.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicholas Thompson" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 7:50 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emotions as Adaptation

> Jochen,
>
> Are you at all familiar with the New Realists, a group of James' students
> and associates who wrote a manifesto in 1914 which took of from James in
> the direction of direct realism.
>
> They spawned two of the most famous American pyschologists, James Gibson
> and Edward Tolman.
>
> n
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
> Clark University ([hidden email])
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
> http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]
>