Home Social Functions of Emotions in Life and Imaginative Culture
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Social Functions of Emotions in Life and Imaginative Culture

  • Dacher Keltner and Keith Oatley
Published/Copyright: April 12, 2022
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Author Information
Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture
From the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture Volume 6 Issue 1

Abstract

One chapter in the science of emotion has focused, largely through an individualist lens, on just a few emotions: the Ekman Six. Considerable debate has occurred and entrenched positions have ensued. In this essay we offer evidence and argument revealing that there are not only six emotions, nor states measured as valence and arousal, but upwards of 20 discrete emotions that contribute to our subjective and social lives. These emotions enable the rich fabric of relationships, from caregiving interactions to collective activities, that are vital to cooperation. Grounded in advances in cultural evolution, we detail how emotions and culture co-evolved, highlighting how emotions are building blocks of cultural forms such as ceremonies, dance, narratives, music, and visual art.

Keywords: discrete emotions; cultural evolution; cooperation; narrative; art
Published Online: 2022-04-12
Published in Print: 2022-04-01

© 2022 by Academic Studies Press

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Target Article
  4. Social Functions of Emotions in Life and Imaginative Culture
  5. Responses to Target Article
  6. Emotions in Science and Imaginative Culture
  7. Demons of Emotion
  8. Social Emotions, Diversity, and Universality
  9. Musical Enculturation in the Social Coevolution of Emotions
  10. Social Situations Shape Social Emotions That Benefit Genes
  11. Back to Arnold? Three Problems for the Social Functional Theory of Emotion
  12. Neo-Vitalism in Affective Science
  13. The Development of Emotions in Sociocultural Context in Childhood and Adolescence
  14. On the Social Functions of Emotions in Visual Art
  15. Emotions Can Cause Antisocial Behavior
  16. Comparative, Developmental, and Physiological Evidence for Discrete Emotions Theory
  17. Rejoinder
  18. Challenges and Promises of a Social Functional Approach: Response to Commentaries
  19. Review Essay
  20. Freeing Up the Mind
  21. Book Reviews
  22. Philip Ball. The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination
  23. Bannan, Nicholas. 2019. Every Child a Composer: Music Education in an Evolutionary Perspective
  24. Bloom, Paul. 2021. The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning
  25. Gluckman, Peter, and Mark Hanson. 2017. Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation
  26. Harden, Kathryn Paige. 2021. The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
  27. Hawkins, Jeff. 2021. A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence
  28. Riggio, Heidi R. 2021. Sex and Gender: A Biopsychological Approach
  29. Slingerland, Edward. 2021. Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization New York: Little, Brown Spark
  30. Article Reviews
  31. Neuroaesthetics
  32. Imagination
  33. Law
  34. Life Narratives
  35. Literature
  36. Music
  37. Paleoaesthetics
  38. Popular Culture
  39. Rhetoric
  40. Letters
  41. Clare Hanson Clare Hanson’s response to Emelie Jonsson’s review of Hanson’s Genetics and the Literary Imagination (Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture 5 (1) [2021])
  42. Emelie Jonsson’s Response to Clare Hanson
  43. Contributors
https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.6.1.263
Keywords for this article
discrete emotions; cultural evolution; cooperation; narrative; art

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Target Article
  4. Social Functions of Emotions in Life and Imaginative Culture
  5. Responses to Target Article
  6. Emotions in Science and Imaginative Culture
  7. Demons of Emotion
  8. Social Emotions, Diversity, and Universality
  9. Musical Enculturation in the Social Coevolution of Emotions
  10. Social Situations Shape Social Emotions That Benefit Genes
  11. Back to Arnold? Three Problems for the Social Functional Theory of Emotion
  12. Neo-Vitalism in Affective Science
  13. The Development of Emotions in Sociocultural Context in Childhood and Adolescence
  14. On the Social Functions of Emotions in Visual Art
  15. Emotions Can Cause Antisocial Behavior
  16. Comparative, Developmental, and Physiological Evidence for Discrete Emotions Theory
  17. Rejoinder
  18. Challenges and Promises of a Social Functional Approach: Response to Commentaries
  19. Review Essay
  20. Freeing Up the Mind
  21. Book Reviews
  22. Philip Ball. The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination
  23. Bannan, Nicholas. 2019. Every Child a Composer: Music Education in an Evolutionary Perspective
  24. Bloom, Paul. 2021. The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning
  25. Gluckman, Peter, and Mark Hanson. 2017. Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation
  26. Harden, Kathryn Paige. 2021. The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
  27. Hawkins, Jeff. 2021. A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence
  28. Riggio, Heidi R. 2021. Sex and Gender: A Biopsychological Approach
  29. Slingerland, Edward. 2021. Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization New York: Little, Brown Spark
  30. Article Reviews
  31. Neuroaesthetics
  32. Imagination
  33. Law
  34. Life Narratives
  35. Literature
  36. Music
  37. Paleoaesthetics
  38. Popular Culture
  39. Rhetoric
  40. Letters
  41. Clare Hanson Clare Hanson’s response to Emelie Jonsson’s review of Hanson’s Genetics and the Literary Imagination (Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture 5 (1) [2021])
  42. Emelie Jonsson’s Response to Clare Hanson
  43. Contributors
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 16.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.6.1.263/html
Scroll to top button