Dr David McGrath

Spine Physician

MB BS (Hons) FAFOM, RACP, FAFMM
Master of Pain Medicine

In earlier articles, we reached the conclusion that:
1. Emotions aid survival
2. Emotions determine the success IN a specific environment
3. Environments determine the success OF a specific emotion

In other words, success is assisted by selective use of more emotions. The right emotion, for the right occasion. We need a

1. A spectrum of emotions
2. A selective mechanism to engage the appropriate emotion

How in earth did we develop such a large range of emotions and how do we selectively switch beteen them?
Pehaps the answer lies in the close connection between disturbances and emotions on the one hand, and disturbances and the environment on the other.
The regularity of the environment means that one disturbance if often followed by another. A structure that is prepared for the next disturbance would do better. In other words, emotions might develop because of the synchronous regularity of the environment. With our increasing diversity of environments, come an increase in diversity of emotions.
But what about selection.
When an expected disturbance does not arrive as anticipated by an emotion, it could be surmised that a neutral non-emotion develops;a kind of regression to a less developed state. With the arrival of a new disturbance, comes an associated emotion. Under these circumstances, we would observe a sequence of emotions, punctuated by pauses in structural expectation. In other words, emotions are driven by disturbances of the environment, and auto select.
We could expect several phenomena from a mechanism such as this.
1. Emotional ambiguity would arise from competing disturbances
2. Sudden changes in emotion, could be expected with new disturbances.
3. Any thought or perception has the capacity, to change the emotion