Evolutionary role of anger.

[SpankyMcFly]

My opinion is that anger is most useful when protecting someone or something you love. Although, I think in his case it was more instinctual than emotional, I feel like it comes from the same place.

I do agree that in a modern, highly connected world, where real threats are more accidental and structural in nature rather than intentional things coming from individuals (though there are still plenty of cases). The impulses of anger can be misplaced.

The times I have felt anger to be most useful is when I have had to defend my friends, or myself. It has been a long time since I have needed to use it in physical confrontation.

One other use, I think, is as a marker for ourselves. I believe, the things we get angry at are things we feel threaten what is important to us.

I have recently had a string of times when I have gotten angry in ways that surprised myself. Although, the results of me not controlling my temper were not good, I did find out a little bit more about what I valued and wanted to protect.

Edit: I definitely seem to get consistently irate when I perceive people are being picked on. My perceptions can be wrong, and I have a bit of a hair trigger on this. But it comes from someplace that is deeply ingrained in my experiences.

Anger is useful and sometimes necessary. It allows us to focus our energies more efficiently at the object of our anger. This can lead to violence, which is just a bargaining tool to get what we want. Amygdala hijacks can be controlled and managed with practice though.

Us humans are running around with hard wiring that hasn't had a patch/upgrade in at 10k years and although our brains continue to evolve, the first in, last out rule that our brain structure is built on pretty much rules out the amygdala going anywhere anytime soon. We're pretty much stuck with our lizard brain.

How Has the Human Brain Evolved? - Scientific American

 

[á´…eparted]

I wonder if it would be possible (via anthropology or something along those lines) to determine if a type of emotion is no longer present in humans. I don't believe it is something that just goes away, or goes away quickly. Also considering that humans have not been around for very long to evolve, it's makes sense that things in that respect would remain the same.

We could also compare emotions to animals as well, since they do exibit them. It seems like they are more or less universal across many species only varying in complexity. Like many emotions, they have a good side and a bad side to them, either bringing great prosper or great destruction depending on the circumstances they appear under. For that reason, I don't think they'll ever naturally be gone.

 

[Honor]

We must be notified of being wronged, how we must be notified of experiencing harm - pain. Though, a simple flag is not enough - being cognizant of a fact is not enough. A creature would easily forgo their future-state in favor of the gratification awarded here and now through simple ignorance, the way raccoons won't let go of coins despite their balled fist being the reason they can't pull their hand out of the hole it fit through just moments before. There must be a driving force that ensures culpability beyond the mere act of realization - whence, the emotions are born.

This is a smart post, and I wager this is correct.

 

[five sounds]

Anger, like all emotions, is potential energy. Anger wielded wisely can be strong and good. Anger when left to consume the self takes control and can be very destructive. This leaves the individual who mindfully wields anger to do harm guilty in a distinct way from the one who is consumed with rage.

[MENTION=22178]hel[/MENTION] I believe fear and anger are very closely related.

 

[Bush]

Yes, but the instinctual reaction to harm isn't anger, it's fear.

Though anger is often referred to as a secondary emotion, arising from fear or hurt. Anger serves as psychological protection against fear.

It's an instinctual reaction to an instinctual reaction to harm, really.

Also relevant to [MENTION=18819]five sounds[/MENTION], looks like

 

[Mole]

Kicking the Dog

Anger is a result of frustration.

So anger can take us through a particular frustration, the danger arises when anger is not a result of a particular frustration, but become generalised anger. So we have anger out of control.

Another danger is loss of impulse control of anger. And then we again loose control of our anger, and we are unable to overcome our particular frustration. We can loose the ability to direct our anger at a particular target and aim for the wrong target, like kicking the dog.