Sue Johnson

Founder EFT
Canada

Evolution of Emotions and Empathy in the Primates

Emotions suffuse much of the language employed by students of animal behavior — from “social bonding” to “alarm calls” — yet are still regularly avoided as explicit topic in scientific discourse. Given the increasing interest of human psychology in the emotions, and the neuroscience on animal emotions such as fear and attachment, the taboo that has hampered animal research is outdated. It is crucial to separate emotions from feelings, which are subjective experiences that may accompany the emotions. Whereas science has no access to animal feelings, animal emotions are as observable and measurable (face, voice, physiology, neural activity) as human emotions.

I will further draw upon research on empathy and the perception of emotions in primates to make the point that the study of animal emotions is a necessary complement to the study of behavior. Empathy is an old mammalian mechanism that probably started with maternal care but then spread to other social relationships. While the emotions serve as organizers of adaptive responses to environmental stimuli, empathy rests on the capacity to perceive another’s emotions and to match these emotions, which may lead to helping responses. A remarkable degree of directed altruism is observable in the primates.

Mark Solms

Neuropsychologist
South Africa

Embracing uncertainty in order to overcome despair: An experiential-existential point of view

Certainty can be understood as the experience that we have our existence – ourselves, the other, the planet and the beyond under control. As we widen our perspective, it is obvious that certainty is only a timely experience, and once we experience its opposite, we might feel betrayed or (self-)deluded. Experiencing uncertainty is often accompanied with existential shattering: the experience of angst, despair, a loss of meaning, existential isolation, and sometimes shame and guilt. In today’s world, we are not only facing uncertainty through our moments of personal brokenness. A larger uncertainty is looming in the background: climate change and all its consequences in the shape of ecological disasters, wars and mass migration. Climate change immediately endangers ‘our’ existence, ranging from plants and animals to us, human beings. How can we cope with all of this? Are there any beacons of hope, and can we be certain that everything will be alright in the end? Or are these beacons of hope only fata morganas we would like to believe in in order not to drown in the overwhelming sea of despair?

Paradoxically, we can only find new meaning, courage and wisdom by rooting deeper and grounding more firmly in existence on the one hand, and by integrating uncertainty and other aspects that threaten our existence (such as death, isolation, and meaninglessness) into our lives on the other hand, as Tillich suggests. Reaching for connection beyond ourselves might become a resource from where we can courageously embrace the state of our world (and ourselves) and act bravely. What is your beyond yourself(-ves)?

Emily Nagoski

Psychologist & Sexologist
USA