The Primal Role of Emotion in Human Evolution

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The role of emotion in our ancestral existence, he got right by studying animals. But then when he tried to apply it to current existence, is where it went off rail. He didn't realize the positive effect emotion has on your decision making and your thinking. For example, tha emotions will change your which goals that you have that are important to you. It will change a our attention to soundsd and sights in the environment. And one of the main points of my book is that emotion is not counter productive. All that processing that you're doing that seems like logical rational processing is done iso in a context, or is wrapped up in some emotion, or whatever your emotional state is.

xtraordinary advances in psychology and neuroscience have proven that emotions are as critical to our well-being as thinking. In this conversation, Shermer and Mlodinow explore the new science of feelings.

Journeying from the labs of pioneering scientists to real-world scenarios that have flirted with disaster, Mlodinow shows us how our emotions can help, why they sometimes hurt, and what we can learn in both instances.

Shermer and Mlodinow discuss: the difference between emotions and feelings/moods/drives/passions; how the scientific understanding of emotions has changed; thought vs. feeling; system 1 vs. system 2 cognition; mind-body connection: how does our physical state influence what we think & feel?; the neuroscience of emotions: how the brain constructs emotions; Lisa Feldman Barrett challenge to Paul Ekman’s theory of universal emotions; Schachter-Singer theory of emotion; the effects of social context on emotions; and more…