Understanding Human Emotions

Our emotions are vital tools in our arsenal of adaptions, ones that we rarely consider or appreciate as a survival mechanism. Some of us might even label emotions as negative or feel they do nothing but get in our way. But from a scientist’s perspective, our emotions are methodic, purposeful, and intelligent. In the 12 fascinating lectures of "Understanding Human Emotions", Professor Lawrence Ian Reed helps us consider emotions from an evolutionary point of view—exploring why we have these consistent feelings and physical responses to specific stimuli in our lives and how they benefit us. That doesn’t mean we feel great when a moment of jealousy pops up or that we should be thrilled to be angry. It does mean that, averaged over the course of evolutionary history, our emotions motivate us to act in ways that best promote our survival and reproduction. Without the full range of our emotions, we simply would not be here.