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I really liked Konrad Lorenz's explanation of this. He said that every innate ability to learn has a corresponding innate "teaching mechanism". For example, an
by jhedwards 6y ago
I really liked Konrad Lorenz's explanation of this. He said that every innate ability to learn has a corresponding innate "teaching mechanism".
For example, an animal like a duck won't necessarily reason "hmm, is this a safe spot? Maybe I should find an area with more protection from [predator]", instead it will have an innate anxiety that it feels when it is in an unsafe place, and that anxiety will drive it to find a different spot.
This was really an a-ha moment for me. Where I previously thought that anxiety and "depression" (not clinical depression) were mysterious unexplainable side-effects of evolution, now I see that they are probably innate mechanisms that spur us to go out, learn more, find opportunity, exercise, meet people etc. Our bodies know when we are stagnating before our minds do.
The fact that we can override those innate mechanisms and sit alone in a quiet, empty room at all is what is really impressive.
- Zelphyr 6y agoYes!! This is where our modern society has gotten off track in thinking emotions such as fear are “bad”. That’s like saying skin is bad. It’s simply there to protect you. Unlike skin, sometimes our emotions try a little too hard to protect us but we can practice noticing that and in doing so the mind begins to learn better what should and should not be feared.
- alok-g 6y agoIndeed. Reasoning based on intelligence came much later into the evolutionary scene. Emotions form a part of the optimization process for animals, creating shorter feedback loops. We feel pain because we won't attend to the injury if we didn't. The evolutionary significance of most emotions can likewise be reasoned about. (I've found relatively less for explaining jealousy in what I've casually read).