Emotions: Part 2

Emotions: Part 2Intro to Psych

Class #62/13/14

Social Emotions toward our kin Babies & Us Nature doesn’t make babies cute, it’s the way

our brains are wired They’re cute because there are certain cues on

a baby that react with parts of our brains to make us THINK they’re cute

Recap from Tuesday

Babies & Us Cupboard Theory from Skinner

Babies attach to their parents because they provide food Operant Conditioning makes the baby drawn to the adult

Another Theory! Babies are drawn to their mother for comfort and social

interaction, as well as to feel safe from a fear of strangers

Money Experiments Wire Mother vs Cloth Mother

Which mother did the baby monkey prefer?

Recap from Tuesday

Evolution & Explaining Emotional Responses Animals’ emotional attraction to their kin is not

weird if we think about from an evolution perspective Evolution is reproduction, so they want to care

for those who carry their genes Also makes sense that a baby animal who wants

to survive would become attached to their parents

Social Emotions

What is puzzling: Why are animals nice to the animals they’re NOT related to? It’s complicated ! Examples:

They groom other animals They give warning cries (Lookout!)

It’s risky to do, but they do it anyway Animals share childcare Animals share food

Vampire bat

Social Emotions

Vampire Bats Known to share food after a big find Goes around to the other bats in the cave vomiting

the blood to be shared Everybody benefits!

This sharing is called Reciprocal Altruism Animals benefit more by working together than by

working alone But my kindness to you depends on your kindness to

me

Animals & Non-kin

Why is this so weird? Sharing is caring, right? But what about the cheaters? The free

loaders? Those that don’t contribute? They get all the benefits but pay none of the

cost Why do they do this? Why don’t ALL animals do this? What is the benefit to doing this?

Animals & Non-kin

Example: Gene A: Causes the animal to accept blood

from others and also to share his blood Gene B: accepts blood but doesn’t share his

blood Who benefits most?

Over time, Gene B will. Because it doesn’t share it will get less sick and reproduce more

Animals & Non-kin

Another Example: Warning cries

Gophers give warning cries It is adaptive to respond to a warning cry (Crap! Run!)

Respond correctly and live! Don’t respond and die It is NOT adaptive to give the warning cry

Make a loud noise to warn the others, but risk giving away your position to the monster and becoming lunch

So what’s the good solution? Respond, but don’t give

Animals & Non-kin

Yet ANOTHER Example: Go out with your friends Buy drinks for others, Have others buy drinks

for you Adaptive Behavior

It is NOT adaptive to my wallet to keep buying drinks

Solution! You can ALL buy me drinks, but I ain’t buying no

more for you!

Animals & Non-kin

BUT! If everyone believed this way, the idea of

buying a round would eventually fade away & no one would do it

THAT’S THE PUZZLE Cheating in the short term will always outdo

honesty in the long term, how come this cooperation has evolved?

Animals & Non-kin

CHEATER DETECTION! Reciprocal Altruism can only evolve and

happen if animals are also wired to punish cheaters

What does this require of the animal? They must be able to: Recognize cheaters Remember who the cheaters are Want to punish the cheaters

Animals & Non-kin

Not every animal has this, but we KNOW vampire bats do

This couldn’t evolve and continue on through the generations if the bats weren’t keeping track of the cheaters

This focus on RECIPROCATION plays a powerful role in the evolution of social emotions

Animals & Non-kin

Animals & Non-kin

This poor guy can’t get no reciprocation!

A Classic Example of the way Reciprocal Altruism can effect social emotions

Idea: You & a friend get caught committing a crime Cops want to know everything, they want you

to rat out your friend You have 2 options:

Cooperate with your friend by staying silent Defect on your friend by squealing

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

But wait! If you cooperate and your friend defects, you

go to prison for life & he’s free If you defect and your friend cooperates,

he’ll go to prison for life & you’ll be free

WHAT DO YOU DO?


The Nice Side: I’ll stay quiet and I’ll cooperate

But if you trust your friend to cooperate, they might defect

Logic: The best case is for you to defect while your friend cooperates (CYA!)

Worst thing to happen? You cooperate and he defects. Now you’re

screwed


Another Example: My spouse & I are breaking up Should I get a lawyer? If we both don’t get lawyers, then we’ll split down

the middle and both get something But if I don’t get a lawyer, and they do, I could get

taken to the cleaners! If I get a lawyer and they don’t, I could get

everything! But if we both get lawyers, we could both get

screwed


Yet ANOTHER Example: Country A & Country B want to do nuclear

disarmament We’d do GREAT if both countries disarmed! We’d all

get along! But wouldn’t it be cool if THEY disarmed and we

kept our weapons? Then we could invade and take everything!

But if we disarm and they don’t, they’ll invade us! If we both build up our weapons, then we’ll both do

pretty badly too


Last Example! A drug deal I want to buy drugs from you. I have $1000 Great! Let’s meet behind the gym at 2am and

we’ll make the trade, You bring the money Wait! This is a drug deal. No one’s going to call

the cops if it goes bad…


If I bring a gun and stick in his face, then I can have the drugs AND the money! I win!

But if he brings a gun, then he gets the money and the drugs. I lose!

If we both bring a gun, this probably won’t end well for either of us

We should just cooperate and do the stinking deal


ACTIVITY! Pair up! Player 1 vs Player 2 When I say go, just show the person your

choice If you both Cooperate: $3 If one player Cooperates, the other Defects: $5

to the defector, nothing to the cooperator Both Defect: $0 for both


How many people cooperated? How many defected? How many made $5? How many got nothing?


There was once a competition to design computers that could play this game and always win

The winner was called “Tit for Tat” & was one of the simplest programs competing

4 lines of basic code First time you meet someone: Cooperate (be

nice) After that, each time do what the other

program did on the previous plays


Why did this win?? It starts friendly But it’s not a sucker – If you screw with it, it’ll

screw with you on the next turn But it’s also forgiving – It will be nice to you if you

are nice to it It’s transparent – there’s nothing complicated

about this idea & you could TELL it’s wasn’t a sucker and was forgiving (IMPORTANT!)

It learned to cooperate and make it out the best even in a situation that might have cheating


Some think our emotions go along with the different emotions one feels in the Prisoner’s Dilemma

We like people who cooperate with us This motivates us to be nice to them in the future “If you’re nice to me now, I’ll be nice to you back”

We don’t like being screwed with We feel anger and distrust toward those who betray us Motivates us to betray or avoid them in the future

We feel bad when we betray someone who cooperated with us Motivates us to behave better in the future


Ultimatum Game Choose a partner (different from last game) One of you is A, one of you is B You have $10 One Rule:

Person A, turn to Person B and make an offer between $0 - $10

Person B says one word: Accept or Reject If the offer is rejected, no one gets anything If the offer is accepted, B gets the offer and A gets the

rest

Another Game!

How many accepted? How many rejected? How many offered $1? How many accepted $1?

The person who accepts the $1 offer was being RATIONAL

$1 is better than no dollars

Ultimatum Game

From a logical point of view, you should reason that $1 is better than nothing and accept the $1

Because we’re smart, Person A should use this same logic and offer the $1

But people are not purely rational Even with one shot, people won’t accept unfair

distribution, they reject them out of spite The offer must be higher to get over that spite

Ultimatum Game

Moral of the story: A rational person is easily taken advantage of A rational person will always respond to

attacks with measured and appropriate responses

You could share with me I’d be happy and grateful

You could mess with me, take my things, harass me I won’t make a fuss

Logical & Rational Thinking

Some advantage to being irrational & having a temper If you have a temper & are known to act

irrationally, people are forced to treat you better because of your personality

So who are you going to take from? The reasonable person? The person with the hair trigger temper?


The reasonable person The unreasonable person might do

unreasonable things & that’s too risky


Could this also apply to why people fall in love???????

You have to choose who you want to devote your life to

It’s a huge trust, you’re going to raise kids together. It’s very important to you that your partner not leave you


A rational person would say: “We should mate & have children because I find

you the most attractive of everybody who is available that I’ve met so far. I’m very rational and so long as this continues to be the case, we‘ll be together.”

Romantic? Not really Wouldn’t you rather be with someone that was

head over heels in love? It’s irrational, but it’s also endearing The person’s irrationality means you can trust

them more in the long run


Irrational Violence Most murder is not caused by provocation (is

not rational) Most murder is generated from insult, curse,

petty infraction This isn’t “crazy irrationality” though It’s “adaptive irrationality”


“In chronically feuding and warring societies, the central manly virtue is the capacity for violence. To turn the other cheek is not sane but stupid or contemptibly weak. If I show myself a rational person when picked on or harassed, I’ll be known as somebody you can pick on or harass.” – Daly & Wilson

What does this mean?

Adaptive Irrationality

In the modern world: Violence due to people disrespecting each

other or giving a dirty look Some may think it irrational behavior But it’s not irrational CIRCUMSTANCES

People living together having to deal with each other over and over again

Often there’s not much support from the police either


The importance of a reputation for violence This differs from culture to culture

Cultures of Honor have certain properties Can’t rely on the law Resources that are easily taken A reputation of violent retaliation is essential to

keep your resources


Examples of Cultures of Honor: Scottish Highlanders

Resources: land, money, their livelihood Western Cowboys

Resources: land, cattle Culture of Honor studied most?

The American South

Cultures of Honor

Why is the South more of a Culture of Honor than the North? Gun laws are more permissive Corporal Punishment & Capital Punishment

seem to be more approved of Attitudes toward the military are more positive Have a higher rate of violence, but only in

certain circumstances: Crimes of honor Someone insults me = I kill him Someone breaks in = I kill them

Cultures of Honor

Example! A study of college undergraduates at the Univ of

Michigan: White males, not Hispanic, not Jewish They were provoked, then taken into a room and

tested Men from the South showed higher stress & hormone

response than men from the North Differences in later behavior also suggested they were

angry “John went to the store and bought _________.” Northern men: an apple (something boring) Southern men: an AK47 (something aggressive)

Cultures of Honor

Southerners are not overall more violent They’re more sensitive to having their honor

threatened Of course these are averages: not every

Southern male will behave like this The effects are real though

When someone from the South moves to the North, they comment on how rude people are

Cultures of Honor

The North is less of a Culture of Honor Because of this, people are able to be jerky more There’s less fear of being a jerk and having

someone retaliate Culture of Honor virtues are not bad things:

Honor Loyalty Courage Self-Reliance

Cultures of Honor

Fear, love towards our kin, anger, gratitude, etc are not weird or abnormal

They are complex systems meant to motivate us that have been created to help us heal with the natural and social environment

Overall Summary

Emotions: Part 2

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