The Gift of Fear

Emotion is a state of feeling which involves thoughts, physiological changes, and a behavior or an outward expression. Emotion is usually associated with mood, temperament, personality, disposition or motivation.

It is an individual's state of mind that involves environmental and biochemical (internal and external) influences. Emotion comes in many forms and ranges, and has many reasons associated with it. But could emotion be an adaptive feature for survival? Theories of emotion, based on evolution are that of survival. 

As animals we once lived in the wild, and along with monkeys and tigers, we needed something of an advantage to react quicker and better to dangerous situations. We needed emotions in order to react quickly to dangerous stimuli. For example, if  faced with a tiger, it was better to be rocked with a fear strong enough, that it would trigger a rush of blood and adrenaline, opposed to just sitting around and thinking about the threat. Emotion helped us become quick in actions that could have saved our lives. We developed an emotional system because it could induce quick responses to danger.

But now you can ask, how would emotions allow humans to survive and be successful in the world? Aggression and the desire to survive,  helped animals rise to the top of  the food chain. In order to create a system that works hard to survive, there is a need to make it conscious and emotional, then it will want to keep itself around. Human beings, being  the most self-conscious animals, are invested and crafty in the need for survival. We developed basic emotions, such as fear, anger and happiness, like the other animals, but we also developed a more complex rational system too, in which we could  imagine our own past, and future selves. It was the ability to reason about the old, as well as our future selves, that helped us set traps, and not just run from predators, and allowed us to dominate the food chain. Emotions evidently evolved to motivate social behaviors that helped us adapt in the ancestral environment, but they helped us even in more modern times. For example, the emotion of spite works against the individual, but also helps establish an individual's reputation as someone to be feared. Shame and pride can motivate behaviors that help maintain a person's standing in a community, and self-esteem can be an estimate of a person's status.