Our responses to one another are essentially emotional.

Long before the development of sophisticated language, humans used emotions to communicate.

Emotions may be more contagious than any known virus.

We continually make implicit value judgments in the social world.

Our responses to one another are essentially emotional. Our emotions automatically react to the emotional states of others, inferred from their appearance, scent, expressed ideas, beliefs, and behavior. The following are mechanics of emotional interaction.

How Emotions Were Used for Preverbal Communication

Long before the development of sophisticated language, humans used emotions to communicate and to serve as a social alarm system. We sensed in one another important messages like:

“The saber tooth tigers are coming!” “The elk are leaving!” “Let's go in this direction.”“Let's mate!”

“The saber tooth tigers are coming!” “The elk are leaving!” “Let's go in this direction.”“Let's mate!”

Each emotion retains primitive non-verbal display characteristics to inform the world. These include facial expressions (smiles, frowns, glares), vocalizations (cooing, moaning, sobbing, screaming, roaring), changes in posture and muscle tone (slumping, tensing, imminent springing, or fleeing), and various expressive behaviors such as stomping feet, beating one’s breast, and pulling one’s hair.

With the development of sophisticated language, the need for emotional display waned, along with our tolerance of it. The........

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