Chapter 3 - Principles of communication and emotion in social interaction

Abstract

This chapter discusses that the origins, development, experience, and deployment of emotions are inherently communicative. The chapter outlines six general principles and related theoretical concepts including the ideas that social interaction is the primary elicitor of most emotions and that emotions are expressed through interpersonal communication. The first two principles focus on two forces that influence how and when emotion is communicated: evolution and socialization. The forces of biological evolution and cultural socialization are not mutually exclusive; rather, they combine and interact to produce emotional communication. The chapter also discusses how evolution and socialization affect emotional communication, by examining the evolution of emotional communication as a socially adaptive phenomenon. Hard-wired neural links exist between emotions and their expression, particularly their nonverbal expression. The social functions of emotions have provided a particularly powerful evolutionary advantage. Emotions permit individuals to adapt successfully to a vast array of social demands and opportunities. The primary function of emotions and their expression is to minimize rejection by other humans.