Emotions and Human Nature

Abstract

Emotions are known at a relatively basic level, yet their fuller understanding is essential to clarifying the dynamics of human evolution. Emotions, in biological terms, are functional mental states in individuals caused by sensory inputs and yielding behavioral outputs. But for conscious humans, emotions and human nature may be constructed by the interplay of the mind and the external world. The chapter explores methods for the analysis of emotions in individuals and then turns to methods for studying the construction of emotions in interactions among individuals. On this basis, the chapter then turns to the deep and conflicted debates on “human nature”—asking to what degree it is biologically ingrained behavior and to what degree it is constructed behavior that can be modified by individual volition or by social action. The study of these methods is to determine whether it will be possible to document the interplay between biologically based emotions and the social expression of emotions and outlooks by individuals and groups (163).