Why Do Humans Actually Have Emotions? - Dr Laith Al-Shawaf - #844

Dr Laith Al-Shawaf is an emotions researcher and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCCS.

Humans have a wide range of emotions. But why do we feel anything at all? Why do we have a felt sense of emotions and how did they evolve?

Expect to learn the evolutionary story of why humans feel stuff, whether some emotions are more basic than others, evolutionary explanations for joy, anger, disgust, envy, awe, happiness and much more…

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Why Do We Have Emotions? (06:37) How Our Emotions Advocate For Us (14:02) Emotions From an Evolutionary Perspective (20:54) Are Some Emotions More Basic Than Others? (25:02) Why We Experience Fear & Surprise (28:34) How Shame is Adaptive (36:47) Why Anxiety is So Prevalent in Modern Society (44:59) Explaining the Trait of Need for Cognition (54:14) Feeling Emotions About Emotions (01:03:49) The Difference Between Envy & Jealousy (01:08:33) Emotions That Aren’t Really Adaptive (01:16:26) How Laith Applies His Work to Daily Life (01:32:55) Where to Find Laith

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