Science Forums 2

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by adriaanb

Social emotions like shame, pride, envy and respect

Those are not necessarily "social emotions". Envy seems to be the only emotion on that list which is reliant on another person/entity.

Evolution has selected for a liking of listening to social narratives because in a stone-age setting they would expose us to the vocal reactions of approval and disapproval of the people around us.

The current, biological theory of evolution makes no such claims that I am aware of. What you have presented works well as a thinking exercise to explore the possibilities of the beginnings of social networking, but this idea does not work well in the traditional sense of evolution. While it's common to see the word 'evolution' used as a synonym to words such as 'development' and 'change', this is not the true meaning or intention of the word 'evolution'.

The laughter or anger we hear makes us aware of the social boundaries and influences how we think ourselves, we mirror the emotions we feel around us. Because when it comes to social morals, it doesn't pay to be different. So with much of storytelling, it isn't about the story, it is all about the vocal reactions of the group. They get us in tune with the group and the group in tune with us.

But then we automated the 'storyteller in middle of the group', with a TV set that we often watch on our own. People can watch almost the same storyline in drama and comedy again and again, it is their social brain that makes them do it. But without the vocal reactions of our group, much of it is has become a waste of time. The brain never anticipated being fooled by electronics.

You see why watching comedy without the studio laughter is so difficult. We actually get the message that what we are seeing shouldn't be deemed funny because nobody else is laughing.

This subject seems to best belong in the Social Science forum. Unless it morphs into a biological discussion, I will move it over there.

Edit: Moved to Philosophy instead.