• Question: Why do we have emotions?

    Asked by to Anna, Elaine, Fiona, Kevin, Darren on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Elaine Cloutman-Green

      Elaine Cloutman-Green answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      I believe that emotions stem back to the way we evolved to live in packs. When your living in a group, in the way that chimpanzees do it’s important to maintain order through either emotional bonds or aggression depending on the task. I think these are things have developed with us and that we still use to maintain social bonds and position today.

      Also things like love towards children are incredibly important in terms of infant survival and therefore successfully passing on your genes to the next generation; which is why when women deliver babies they have a large hormone release.

    • Photo: Fiona McLean

      Fiona McLean answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Excellent question! Emotions are very complex and they have a very important role in life and help you survive. For example, if you feel scared this will triggered reactions in your body such as heightened senses (smell, sight, sounds) and an adrenaline release (a boost of energy). This can be useful in some situations, for example when you would need to run away from something that could hurt you. So there is an evolutionary bonus to having emotions (i.e. help you not get eaten by a giant lion). This also works for when we have children because when you feel caring emotions for your kids then you will look after them so they don’t get eaten by a giant lion either.

      However, there are in fact even more benefits to having emotions. In the brain there is an area called the limbic system and it is made up of lots of different parts of the brain. The limbic system is involved in how we feel and our emotions. What is interesting is that the limbic system is also responsible for our memories. This all makes sense! If you think back to say your summer holidays last year and remember some of the things you did then you are quite likely to feel happy. Additionally, if you think back to a time you hurt your elbow then you are likely to feel sad. This makes sense because if you hurt yourself before and you feel a negative emotion (sadness) then you are likely to try and not do what you did before that hurt your elbow. So emotions have a really important role in learning!

    • Photo: Kevin O'Dell

      Kevin O'Dell answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Emotions, just like any other human behaviour, must have evolved because it’s useful for our survival. I suspect it’ll have something to do with the fact that humans generally work together better in a team. So anything that helps you read the behaviour or thoughts of other members of your team is probably a good thing both for you and other members of the team.

      Of course there are times when suppressing your emotions, or at least trying to control your emotions to make decisions under pressure, is perhaps a good thing.

      Take a look at the national team managers in Brazil at the moment. How do they make the best decisions for their team, especially if they’re 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go. Should they try hard to be calm and rationale (suppress emotion) or just go with their gut feeling (embrace emotion)?

      I thought I’d better not mention penalty shoot-outs.

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