• Question: why do humans have emotions??

    Asked by jaeyda to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 9 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Yo Yehudi

      Yo Yehudi answered on 9 Nov 2017:

      I’m not sure why we have emotions. Sometimes they can be pesky things that really get in your way – it would be nice not to feel miserable every time I remember that one my cats passed away last month, for example. They can also be awesome – think of the last time something exciting happened, or something that made you feel really proud. Sometimes those feelings can power you on to do more great things!
      I do think that it’s not something unique to humans, though. My kittycats most definitely have emotions. They get angry at me if I stroke them wrong or if I’ve taken them to the vet, and they can be very affectionate or playful at other times. I’m sure anyone who has had a pet will agree!

    • Photo: Kerrianne Harrington

      Kerrianne Harrington answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      I’m not sure why (I’m pretty interested to see what Edward might say to this because he works with brains), but I know that without emotions decisions can be difficult! We like to think the way we make decisions is entirely rational, and if we were just pure logic we would make the best decisions. But think about most of your decisions in your day. What do I want for lunch? What do I want to do after school? Which book should I read? etc. Most of them you just have a feeling for! Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio studied people who had problems with emotions, and found that they are really important to decision making. Without them, you become a bit lost and can take a lot of time to come to a basic decision. He does a few TED talks, so you can check his work out online 🙂

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