Emotions are like our best friend. They have always been a part of our lives and have been influencing our personalities from the very beginning. However, this begs the question — where do emotions come from?
Evolutionary (进化论的) psychologists believe that emotions are adaptations that have evolved in response to the challenges faced by our ancestors. They believe that emotions are innate (先天的), meaning that we are born with them wired into our brains.
Some psychologists restrict their claims to a small set of “basic” emotions, which are called the Big Six — happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger and disgust.
Critics of evolutionary psychology argue that emotions are socially constructed. They reject the evolutionary theory of emotions being involuntary; instead, they believe that emotions are voluntary choices we trick ourselves into treating as involuntary.
Defendants of this view believe that our culture influences how we should feel and what we should do in a given situation. When we feel an emotion and act on it, we engage in a behavior that is prescribed by our culture.
People argue that our presumption that emotions are involuntary, such as anger, may just be a convenient illusion (幻觉). To be angry, we need to understand something as offensive (冒犯的), which is likely based on culturally informed moral judgments. In that case, how can anger be an animal reflex (本能反应)?
Moreover, anger is not seen in all cultures. In Inuit culture, people rarely show any signs of anger, probably since threatening responses would be too risky in a small culture surviving in harsh conditions. The Malay language of Malaysia doesn’t even have a word meaning “anger”!
The fact that culture can affect the incidence and intensity of our emotions makes them look less like biological truths and more like the product of social constructs.
From my perspective, evolutionary psychologists underestimate the contributions of culture and learning, whereas social constructionists over-emphasize the same. Basically, we need an explanation that can steer between both these extremes.
The next time you feel a complex emotion bubbling up (冒出), the key is to determine the underlying basic emotions so you can take action that is the most helpful in keeping you balanced and emotionally under control!
8. What do evolutionary psychologists believe?
A.We are born with emotions. |
B.Personalities influence emotions. |
C.Emotions are learned. |
D.Humans have six different emotions. |
9. What does the underlined word “prescribed” in paragraph 5 mean?
A.Copied. |
B.Remembered. |
C.Translated. |
D.Required. |
10. What do the two examples in paragraph 7 mainly explain?
A.Emotions play a major role in survival. |
B.People in poor circumstances have emotions. |
C.People solve problems with the help of emotions. |
D.Emotions are socially constructed. |
11. What is essential when facing the occurrence of a complex emotion?
A.Finding out the real core emotions. |
B.Taking action to ignore basic emotions. |
C.Striking a balance between life and work. |
D.Making efforts to build confidence. |