PSYC18H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Walter Bradford Cannon, Epicureanism, Stoicism
Document Summary
For over two thousand years, thinkers argued our emotions are base and destructive. And more noble reaches of human nature are achieved when our passions are controlled by our reason. West"s most prominent and earliest theorists of emotion: epicurians and stoics. Epicurians and stoics thought emotions are irrational and damaging. A view that emerged in recent study of human emotions-emotions serves important functions especially in social lives. 1872, charles darwin, published most important book on emotions yet!- the expression of the emotions in man and animals. Darwin did not propose that emotions had functions in our survival. 1838, accepted theory was that god gave humans special muscles that allowed them to express uniquely human sentiments unknown to animals. Central principle of darwin"s theory- human descended from other species. He realized the importance of cross-cultural study. He was the first one to use questionnaires. He concluded that emotional expressions derive largely from habits that are in our evolutionary or individual parts.
