Emotions and evolution

[Sola'lor]

I'm not really trying to debate anything, I'm just curious. How to proponants of evoltion explain emotions. Do emotions naturally evolve in all creatures? So do 'lesser' animals have some form of emtions? To plants have some form of emotions? What evironmental condition would cause emotions to be an evolutionary advantage and thus cause them to be developed?

I'm just curious.

[Bouncing Ball]

Do emotions naturally evolve in all creatures?
I think yes..

So do 'lesser' animals have some form of emtions?
You put quotes around 'lesser', but it still says 'lesser', so you will have to rephrase as I do not understand..

To plants have some form of emotions?
I think you need to have brains for the emotions. Maybe plants have some form we don't understand yet though.

What evironmental condition would cause emotions to be an evolutionary advantage and thus cause them to be developed?
You need to give examples of emotions you don't understand
Love, attachment: staying in groups and thus surviving.
Anger: Making sure a situation that just happened in your disadvantage doesn't happen again.

[Sola'lor]

Be lesser I mean any animal other than humans. Let's also throw insects in there too.

[Bouncing Ball]

Originally Posted by Sola'lor

Be lesser I mean any animal other than humans. Let's also throw insects in there too.

I knew what you meant, I just wanted to point out that your quotes made no sense at all. I also do not agree with it either:

Be lesser I mean any animal other than humans.

Any idea how egocentric that sounds..

Anyways, yes I think all the animals equal to us animals, have emotions but on a different level.

[Sola'lor]

Originally Posted by Bouncing Ball

I knew what you meant, I just wanted to point out that your quotes made no sense at all. I also do not agree with it either:

Any idea how egocentric that sounds..

Anyways, yes I think all the animals equal to us animals, have emotions but on a different level.

That's why i but the quotes around lesser. Because I don't consider all animals inferior to us. It was just my way of getting away with a generalization.

[Bouncing Ball]

Originally Posted by Sola'lor

That's why i but the quotes around lesser. Because I don't consider all animals inferior to us. It was just my way of getting away with a generalization.

You could have avoided 'lesser' at all and make sure a generalisation wasn't even needed

So.... you consider insects to be lesser than humans huh?

[Father Heathen]

Animals that depend upon groups of their own for survival and who's young needs to be cared for have emotions to bond and communicate (like distress).

[misanthropic_clown]

Plants do not have feelings because they do not have a central nervous system (if I remember my biology correctly) and reactions/movements are all controlled locally and spontaneously. As such, I do not think they have the capacity for feeling.

As far as animals go, I think the capacity for advanced feeling developed with the development of more central nervous system than we really needed for the control of bodily function (ie I doubt 'lesser' animals, insects and so on have sufficient CNS capacity left over from that required for bodily function to develop emotional ability). For example, a lot of animals have sex in a mating season triggered by response to hormonal changes. That behaviour is not the same capacity for love/lust that we have [in my opinion].

As animals evolved and gained brains to spare, the increase in cognitive ability, and the increased ability to associate things together, I think more advanced concepts arose. Instead of pheromones = sex, females/males were also increasingly associated with sex. That gives all year round lust, but obviously we are still susceptible to being encouraged either way by hormones.

As our social interactions became more and more advanced, the more associations developed. This leads to greater complexity of emotion. Assumably, the ability to form emotionally complex relationships was an evolutionary winner. We looked for mates with an ability to form close ties and relationships.

That is as far as love goes. Fear, distress, euphoria and familial units also have evolutionary advantages too.

[3.14]

dolfins have lust and emotional atachments to eachother (if a dolfin dies they "mourn" if they are attacked they get angry, and if there happy they become playfull )

[TurkeyOnRye]

Emotions are motivation.