bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Contentment
Authors: Cordaro Daniel 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Contentment is felt when one’s present experience is perceived to be complete as it is. There is a growing literature which, when taken together, establishes contentment as a discrete, universally recognized emotion that is distinct from happiness and other related pleasant states. Contentment serves several evolutionarily important functions critical to individual survival, and it supports the sustainability of larger ecosystems. It buffers against resource overconsumption and serves as a barometer for unconditional acceptance of self and others. Contentment is highly valued across philosophical traditions spanning 4,000 years, and its facial and vocal expressions are recognized and displayed across cultures. This chapter takes an evolutionary approach to contentment and reviews the historical and empirical literatures giving rise to its importance for emotion psychology. Based on these observations, future directions for the continued study of this empirically rich and philosophically important basic emotion are discussed.
Happiness
Authors: Goetz Stefan M. M. , Weisfeld Glenn E. 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter proposes a model of happiness from a discrete emotions theory perspective. It takes a materialistic view of happiness, arguing that happiness is a nonspecific catch-all category of positive emotions that evolved to promote the repetition of fitness-enhancing behaviors. The chapter begins by laying out the view of the evolutionary significance of happiness, arguing that positive affects represent proximate mechanisms that reinforce and guide adaptive behaviors but are not direct targets of selection. Rather, the resultant adaptive behaviors are the targets. It then discusses potential signaling functions of the expression of happiness and presents the neural bases of positive emotions. It also addresses why happiness is ephemeral, concluding that were it not, the behaviors that initially engendered happiness would be less likely to be repeated. Finally, it discusses contemporary measurement approaches before concluding with a brief discussion of some of the correlates of happiness and pathology.
Humor
Authors: Weisfeld Glenn E. , Cronin Weisfeld Carol 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Humor has been studied from an evolutionary point of view beginning with Darwin. Some evolutionary theorists have regarded humor as a universal emotion. With its distinct affect and expression, humor meets most criteria for having an evolved basis. The expression of laughter has homologues in other primates and, as in children, is observed during tickling and other social play. This chapter proposes a functional theory of laughter that attempts to account for the fitness benefits for recipient and producer of humor. The recipient gains information and practice that are of later utility in social encounters. Alternative functional explanations for humor are reviewed, but these often feature group selection ideas and fail to account for the fitness value for the humorist. Humor appreciation is correlated with health, but mainly because healthy people are less anxious and hence disposed to appreciate jokes.
An Evolutionary Perspective on Positive Emotions
Authors: P. Kirsch Amanda , Langley Erika B. , Vornlocher Carley , Shiota Michelle N. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWhat does it mean to apply an evolutionary perspective to the study of positive emotions? This chapter addresses this question, both looking back at research informed by evolutionary theorizing and looking toward future advances. Although an evolutionary perspective is most explicitly invoked in theory and research on specific emotions, it also plays an important role in emphasizing dimensions of core affect and emotion-eliciting appraisals. The authors discuss why most early research focused on the adaptive value of negative emotions, and the changes that have led to growing interest in positive emotions. They provide an overview of the research addressing the adaptive functions of positive emotions, including examples from multiple emotion theories. Finally, they offer several suggestions for applying an evolutionary perspective to research on the positive emotions, considering advances in evolutionary biology, ethology, and neuroscience for what emotions are, how they work, and their implications in the modern world.
Fear
Authors: O’Connell Katherine , A. Rhoads Shawn , A. Marsh Abigail 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Fear is the multimodal state that accompanies the anticipation of an imminent or predictable aversive outcome. This state promotes adaptive autonomic, behavioral, and cognitive responses such as avoidance, escape, and learning. Fear is essential to animal species’ survival, and as such is highly conserved, with the emergence of basic fear learning and responding dating back at least 700 million years. The adaptive significance of fear reflects its effects not only on physiology and behavior, but also on social outcomes. Across a wide range of species, fear can be socially communicated via visual, auditory, and chemical signals, which promote avoidance of threat and social learning in observers. In some social species, the communication of fear can also benefit expressers by inhibiting aggression and eliciting care from observers. This chapter reviews the evolutionary functions and neural circuitry of fear and its autonomic, behavioral, and communicative features.
Grief
Authors: Martin Heidi , Cronin Weisfeld Carol 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Theories about grief include the stage theory of Kübler-Ross and the Parkes-Bowlby theory (based on attachment theory). While the former is not well supported by research, cross-cultural research affirms the latter. This chapter uses Tinbergen’s Four Questions to understand grief. Tinbergen’s questions explore two levels of proximate causation: ontogeny and immediate mechanisms such as learning; two additional levels describe evolutionary or more distal explanations: phylogenetic and evolutionary (functional) causation. Developmentally, behavioral characteristics of grief change over the human life span. Immediate causation for feeling grief is found in heightened autonomic nervous system arousal, and environmental inputs, such as degree of relatedness with the one lost. Phylogenetically, grief likely evolved in social species, such as humans and other primates, elephants, and domesticated dogs. Functionally, grief may be a byproduct of attachment; however, grief may serve other functions, such as encouraging protective parenting and compelling relatives to comfort the bereaved. Clinical applications are discussed.
A Socio-functional Perspective on Emotion and Cooperation
Authors: Guevara Beltran Diego , Shiota Michelle N. , Aktipis Athena 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Humans sociality is inextricably linked to cooperation. The human life history required cooperation in the form of pair-bonding, alloparenting, intergenerational transfers of calories, and extensive food sharing among kin and non-kin. Cooperating to achieve mutual goals often led to better outcomes compared to uncoordinated individual efforts. However, avoiding exploitation was critical to managing the challenges of sociality. Building on a socio-functional perspective, this chapter summarizes evidence showcasing the role that emotion plays in guiding proximate mechanisms that facilitate cooperation or hinder competition through their effect on partner choice and relationship management. The authors further organize these emotions (e.g., compassion, sadness, gratitude, anger, shame, guilt) by their proposed interpersonal ultimate functions based on the ways in which they promote cooperation via (1) distinguishing high-value from low-value partners; (2) building and maintaining lasting cooperative relationships with valuable partners; and (3) identifying when to de-invest from or terminate existing relationships.
Are There Really So Many Moral Emotions?
Authors: Fitouchi Léo , André Jean-Baptiste , Baumard Nicolas 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
What role do emotions play in moral cognition? Leading accounts argue that a multiplicity of emotions, including guilt, outrage, shame, empathy, and even disgust, play an essential role in moral psychology. Here, this chapter argues that many of these emotions are only superficially associated with moral cognitive contents and adaptive challenges, and that only outrage and guilt rigorously qualify as moral emotions—that is, as computational systems that process distinctively moral representations. Outrage functions to reclaim benefits to which one is rightfully entitled; and guilt to compensate others for violations of one’s duties. Shame, by contrast, tracks representations of one’s social status, not representations of one’s moral obligations. Empathy, similarly, tracks cues of fitness-interdependence—an adaptive challenge that differs from, and in fact often contradicts, the respect of moral obligations. This chapter argues, finally, that both evolutionary rationales and psychological evidence for a role of disgust in moral cognition remain inconclusive for now.
Emotions and Olfaction
Authors: Schäfer Laura , Croy Ilona 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview linking the sense of smell to the field of emotion. The authors focus on the evolution of the olfactory system and its anatomical pathways, including overlapping structures with emotional processing circuits. The chapter proceeds with a detailed analysis of the functional relationship between olfaction and emotion based on the following topics: odors and leading emotional reactions; odors as chemosignals within social communication (focusing on a definition of chemosignals; chemosignals and emotional contagion; and chemosignals within intimate relationships); and odors as a basis for multisensory integration in the context of emotional processing. Throughout the chapter, the authors present a broad range of experimental studies including behavioral and neuroimaging investigations, as well as implications of research on patients with olfactory deficits.
Emotions and Intergroup Conflict
Authors: Kotoye Christian , McDonald Melissa M. 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Historically, humans have lived in groups to promote survival and reproduction. However, group-based living has stimulated conflict between groups over various resources. These conflicts present a threat to the reproductive fitness, which is categorized and managed with appropriate behavioral responses. This chapter examines the role of emotions in this process. Emotions promote an adaptive response, by which their category and magnitude are calibrated to match the perceived threat. The self-protection and disease-avoidance threat-management systems use social-based emotional responses and their resulting behaviors to detect and respond to potential harm from conspecifics. This chapter also discusses the differences in responses to threats from out-group members and individual variation (e.g., strength, sex, health) which shapes the adaptive response. This model is integrated with research that has identified emotional interventions to reduce intergroup prejudice and discrimination.
Emotion and Women’s Intrasexual Mating Competition
Authors: Fisher Maryanne L. 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Women compete with each other for access to mates who possess desirable qualities. This chapter addresses the emotional underpinnings of women’s intrasexual mating competition, and links emotional experiences with specific competitive situations. The emotional side of women’s intrasexual competition has rarely been studied, and consequently, much of this chapter is about setting the stage to explore what emotions are presumably experienced. The existing work focuses on experiences of anger, jealousy, and envy, usually within the context of imagining interactions with rivals, and thus, they are individually presented in light of past work. After reviewing the framework of competition, in terms of why women intrasexually compete for mates and the goal of this form of competition, the discussion moves to indirect aggression and then addresses each of these emotions in turn. The chapter ends with concrete suggestions for future research.
The Role of Emotion in Second- and Third-Party Punishment
Authors: Marshall Julia , McAuliffe Katherine 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Punishment plays a key role in sustaining cooperation by promoting adherence to social norms. Forms of punishment can be organized into two categories: second-party punishment, wherein the punisher is the victim of a transgression; and third-party punishment, wherein the punisher is an uninvolved bystander who witnesses a transgression against someone else. Although empirical work has focused on punishment behavior across these contexts, such work has focused less on the emotional mechanisms supporting both types of punishment. In this chapter, the authors review work that has explored the emotional antecedents of both second- and third-party punishment. For example, the chapter reviews research finding that negative emotions, most notably anger, promote both forms of punishment. This review combines work from a range of methodological approaches, including behavioral studies and physiological methods, providing an integrative overview of the role of emotion in punishment.
Comparative Psychology of Frustrative Nonreward
Authors: Torres Carmen , R. Papini Mauricio 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Research with mammals, including humans, shows that unexpected reward downshifts (omissions or reductions) can induce a negative emotional state, called frustrative nonreward, with behavioral, physiological, neurochemical, and molecular consequences. The successive negative contrast (SNC) task has been extensively used to study the effects of reward downshift. In SNC, a downshift from large to small rewards leads to a transient suppression of behavior compared to controls always exposed to small rewards. Behavioral suppression is accompanied by the release of stress hormones, ameliorated by anxiolytics and analgesics, reduced by lesions of the amygdala, and enhanced by lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex. Unlike mammals, other vertebrates exposed to reward downshifts tend to exhibit a gradual adjustment to the small reward, an effect called reversed SNC. This research is leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of frustrative nonreward, including its effects on health and well-being in humans.
Emotions in Dogs
Authors: V. Kujala Miiamaaria , Bräuer Juliane 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Domestic dog, Canis familiaris, is called “human’s best friend”: dogs are everywhere in the Western societies, and over 470 million dogs are kept as pets worldwide. But what are the social and emotional properties of dogs that enable such an affectionate friendship bond across species? During their domestication 14,000–30,000 years ago, dogs have undergone selective changes and developed behavioral skills that enable them to better function in human social groups. Humans and dogs share some basic emotional functionality of the nervous systems, which aids in interspecies interaction. Dogs have positive and negative affective states, with most research conducted on fear, anger/aggressiveness, reward-processing and joy. Still, dogs are not four-legged, nonverbal humans. In the light of scientific results, canine capability for social emotions such as guilt or jealousy appears limited. Dogs understand human behavior from a dog’s point of view, and humans understand dogs from a human’s point of view.
The Emergence of Emotionally Modern Humans
Authors: Blaffer Hrdy Sarah , M. Burkart Judith 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
According to the Cooperative Breeding Hypothesis, apes with the life history attributes of those in the line leading to the genus Homo could not have evolved unless male and female allomothers had begun to help mothers care for and provision offspring. As proposed elsewhere, the unusual way hominins reared their young generated novel phenotypes subsequently subjected to Darwinian social selection, favoring those young apes best at monitoring the intentions, mental states, and preferences of others and most motivated to attract and appeal to caretakers. Not only were youngsters acquiring information in different social contexts than other apes, but they would also have been emotionally and neurophysiologically different from them in ways that are relevant to how humans learn. Contingently delivered rewards to dependents who attracted and ingratiated themselves with allomothers shaped their behaviors and vocalizations and transformed the way developing youngsters learned from others and internalized their preferences.
Emotional Vigilance
Authors: Dezecache Guillaume , Mercier Hugo 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Although emotional displays have long been considered mere read-outs of the affective state of agents, recent studies and modern evolutionary thinking instead suggest that they should be characterized as proper communicative signals. This implies that emotional displays have evolved to be used strategically, to serve the senders’ interests. However, for these signals to be stable, they must also benefit receivers. What guarantees that emotional signals are beneficial for both emitters and observers? In this chapter, the authors review evidence showing that humans are equipped with mechanisms that evolved to evaluate emotional displays and their sources, so as to minimize the risk of being fooled. They term these mechanisms “emotional vigilance,” following the “epistemic vigilance” mechanisms used in ostensive communication. Emotional vigilance, the authors argue, is part of the human cognitive makeup, and they outline empirical avenues to best elucidate its features.
Emotions across Cultures
Authors: G. Kamiloğlu Roza , Cong YongQi , Sun Rui , A. Sauter Disa 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
What can evolutionary theories reveal about emotions, and how can research on emotions inform evolutionary theories? This chapter discusses links between evolutionary theories of emotion and the cross-cultural study of emotion. In particular, the authors emphasize the notion that evolved psychological mechanisms result in cultural differences instantiated as variations on common themes of human universals. They focus on two components of emotions: emotion experience and nonverbal expressions. Several case studies from emotion science are outlined to illustrate this framework empirically. In the domain of emotion experience, they highlight shame as an illustration of the idea of variations occurring across cultures around a common theme. In the domain of nonverbal expression of emotion, this idea is illustrated by the in-group advantage, that is, superior recognition of emotional expressions produced by members of one’s own group. Lastly, they review three different theoretical accounts of how to conceptualize cross-culturally shared themes underlying emotions.
Anxiety and Phobias
Authors: Kennair Leif Edward Ottesen , Lindner Miriam , Hagen Kristen , Mjøen Larsen Simen 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Anxiety is an exaggerated fear-like response to experienced threat. Several different subtypes of anxiety disorders exist, with emphasis on the specific triggers, stimuli, and situations that the patient will avoid and typical safety behaviors that are employed to reduce the experienced threat. The development of anxiety, once considered to be best described by associative theories, has a clear non-associative element. Over the years, efficient treatment of anxiety has developed from exposure and response-prevention interventions, to encompass more cognitive and metacognitive methods. While several adaptive and evolutionary-based explanations for anxiety disorders have been proposed, this chapter suggests that none of these current theories is convincing: fear of actual danger or threats is adaptive, anxiety disorders are probably not. The chapter discusses evolutionary approaches to the development of different anxiety disorders and their maintenance, considers existing evidence for the potential adaptive value of anxiety disorders, and presents new research from the treatment of specific anxiety disorders.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Eating Disorders
Authors: Abed Riadh 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Eating disorders (primarily anorexia and bulimia nervosa) are of particular interest to evolutionists for a number of reasons. These include the claim that they are evolutionarily novel, that they have increased in prevalence in developed countries in recent decades, their large female preponderance, and the fact that they have the highest risk of mortality of any psychiatric disorder. These, have led to a proliferation of theoretical etiological models. Some of these features increase the possibility that evolutionary approaches dealing with ultimate causation may facilitate our understanding of proximate causes. A review of the current evolutionary literature suggests that the sexual competition hypothesis has, so far, had the strongest empirical support from clinical and nonclinical studies. While other evolutionary theories focus on anorexia nervosa, the sexual competition hypothesis offers an explanation for both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and also explains the specific presentations of eating disorders in males.
Addiction and Substance Use
Authors: Durrant Russil 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
A number of evolutionary explanations for substance use and addiction have been advanced, with much of the debate centered on whether humans have evolved specific adaptations for drug use, or whether it is better to conceptualize the human attraction to psychoactive substances as reflecting their action on more domain-general motivational and emotional systems that have evolved for other purposes. This chapter reviews evolutionary approaches to understanding drug use and addiction, arguing that extant approaches fail to fully account for the heterogenous nature of substance use and the range of effects that drugs have on users. To more clearly conceptualize substance-using behavior, the author argues that one needs to consider how drugs affect different motivational and emotional systems. This approach can account for the diverse nature of drug-using experiences, and can also provide insights into how drug use and addiction varies by age, gender, and other individual characteristics.
An Evolutionary Approach to Emotional Difficulties in Borderline Personality Disorder
Authors: Ian Reed Lawrence , Cooley Cameryn , Okun Sara 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) represents a pervasive personality pathology characterized by emotional dysregulation leading to signs and symptoms such as impulsivity, behavioral dysregulation, and interpersonal hypersensitivity. This chapter describes how emotions and emotional processes are central to borderline pathology and how current evolutionary accounts of emotions can shed light on the disorder. First, the authors provide a definition of BPD and its diagnostic criteria as reflected in the DSM-5, emphasizing the centrality of emotion, followed by an evolutionary explanation of emotions that contextualize evolutionary approaches to the emotional vulnerability and dysregulation characteristic of BPD. They then present attachment theory and life history theory as two middle-level explanations of BPD within the context of the DSM-5 definition and clinical formulations of borderline pathology. The chapter concludes with a summary of each approach and the potential they bring toward a clearer understanding of BPD and psychopathology in general.