What is the evolutionary value of blushing? It seems not to be to our advantage to do it, to involuntarily reveal our inner emotions. If we're trying to manipulate or lie, actions in furtherance of individual goals as opposed to the goals of others, blushing would not seem to be helpful. And yet everyone blushes, except the psychopath.
Interpretation
Blushing reveals our true emotions, highlighting a conflict between honesty and manipulation.
Frans De Waal’s quote examines the seemingly paradoxical nature of blushing as an involuntary emotional response that reveals our true feelings, which can be seen as a disadvantage when one is attempting to deceive or manipulate others. Despite its lack of apparent evolutionary advantage, the fact that all humans blush, save for psychopaths, suggests that it plays a significant role in our social interactions and may reflect empathy and honesty, key components of forming trust and connections within a community.
In practice
During a psychology class discussion on emotional expressions and their social implications.
As in a Russian doll, however, the outer layers always contain an inner core. Instead of evolution having replaced simpler forms of empathy with more advanced ones, the latter are merely elaborations on the former and remain dependent on them. This also means that empathy comes naturally to us. It is not something we only learn later in life, or that is culturally constructed.
Sometimes I read about someone saying with great authority that animals have no intentions and no feelings, and I wonder, 'Doesn't this guy have a dog?'
Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans but not so well with other species.
Being both more systematically brutal than chimps and more empathetic than _x000D_ bonobos, we are by far the most bipolar ape. Our societies are never completely peaceful, never completely competitive, never ruled by sheer selfishness, and never perfectly moral.
If you look at human society, it is very easy, of course, to compare our warfare and territoriality with the chimpanzee. But that's only one side of what we do. We also trade, we intermarry, we allow each other to travel through our territory. There's an enormous amount of cooperation.
Human morality is unthinkable without empathy.
It is our attitude toward life that determines life's attitude toward us. We get back what we put out.
In adultery, there is usually tenderness and self-sacrifice; in murder, courage; in profanation and blasphemy, a certain satanic splendour. Judas elected those offences unvisited by any virtues: abuse of confidence and informing.
Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?
Lent is a good time for sacrificing. Let us deny ourselves something every day to help others.
Kids can't see us bombing, and then listen to us _x000D_ _x000D_ talking about getting guns out of the schools. _x000D_ _x000D_ How can we tell them to solve problems without violence, _x000D_ _x000D_ if, in fact, we can't show an ability to solve problems _x000D_ _x000D_ without violence?
There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.
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