Emotions and Status Hierarchies

Abstract

Abstract Emotions define and are defined by status hierarchies. This chapter examines human emotions in relation to hierarchy navigation. Because emotional adaptations evolve in response to selective pressures, the chapter first presents evidence supporting the ubiquity of hierarchies and the fitness-relevance of status in the ancestral past. Next, the author provides a sketch of the recurrent adaptive challenges likely posed by life within hierarchically organized groups to circumscribe the hierarchy-navigation tasks that emotional adaptations are expected to address. The chapter then highlights several emotions—pride, shame, envy, admiration, respect, contempt, anger, and fear—that appear to facilitate hierarchy navigation, reviews the evidence for their functional design, and explores ways in which relative differences in status may modulate recurring emotional experiences. Finally, the author discusses how understanding the interplay between emotions and hierarchy navigation can inform understanding of broad individual differences.