Post by zee on Nov 6, 2017 5:46:49 GMT
In relation to his tree image for emotions, Damasio writes, “The history of evolution is written all over that tree” (p. 38). Explain what he means by this statement and why it is important with respect to his view of emotions.
Damasio's tree image for emotions begins at the base with innate biological activities fundamental for survival all the way to emotions. The entire tree as a whole represents regulatory process that have evolved in complexity to ultimately increase the production of offspring to pass down genes. This is important with respect to his view of emotions because damasio's operative definition for emotion is the biological response to emotionally competent stimuli. This stimuli response mechanism allows the body to experience changes in physiological state and than in turn the conscious mind can create logical decisions on how to proceed with the external stimuli. This allows the organism to have an upper hand on the environment or even within social interactions which increases survivabilt and so increases the chances for viable offspring. An example for this would be the emotion of fear. An emotionally competent stimuli responsible for fear such as spotting a predator will create a physiological change in the body such as increased heart rate. The increased heart rate will act as a warning signal to the brain and so the organism can escape the situation, increases chance for survival and thus increasing the chance for viable offspring. Evolution is the adoption of characteristics that will enhances the ability to increase offspring production and so we can see how emotion is a homeostatic product of evolution.
Damasio's tree image for emotions begins at the base with innate biological activities fundamental for survival all the way to emotions. The entire tree as a whole represents regulatory process that have evolved in complexity to ultimately increase the production of offspring to pass down genes. This is important with respect to his view of emotions because damasio's operative definition for emotion is the biological response to emotionally competent stimuli. This stimuli response mechanism allows the body to experience changes in physiological state and than in turn the conscious mind can create logical decisions on how to proceed with the external stimuli. This allows the organism to have an upper hand on the environment or even within social interactions which increases survivabilt and so increases the chances for viable offspring. An example for this would be the emotion of fear. An emotionally competent stimuli responsible for fear such as spotting a predator will create a physiological change in the body such as increased heart rate. The increased heart rate will act as a warning signal to the brain and so the organism can escape the situation, increases chance for survival and thus increasing the chance for viable offspring. Evolution is the adoption of characteristics that will enhances the ability to increase offspring production and so we can see how emotion is a homeostatic product of evolution.