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P. 107
3. SADNESS IS AN EMOTION, AND IT HAS AN ADAPTIVE ROLE
Sadness is a universal emotion, the emotion most closely related to
depression. It has facial and corporal expressions associated to it that are similar
and therefore recognizable in many different cultures (Izard, 1991). Sadness is
normally a response to some kind of loss, health, family, money, job but it is also
linked to a loss of attachment to a child or to a partner, relative or close friend
(Tsuchiya & Adolphs, 2007).
From an evolutionary perspective attachment is adaptive, it begins with the
relation to the bond between mother and baby, so important that the loss of this
attachment, even briefly, can cause sadness in babies and they actively search for
the parent. In the same way attachment is also important for adults and its loss
promotes sadness and the search for another partner. Sadness can also result from
other losses, for example money, job, or lack of success at work.
From an evolutionary perspective sadness has a clear function which is to
motivate the individual to recover from these losses and also to drive us to restore
attachment bonds. The sadness caused by bereavement is the cost of having been
attached, and it may also act as a social signal that is a plea for sympathy as Bowlby
(Bowlby, 1981) points out.
Solomon (Solomon, 2003, 2004, 2006a, 2006b, 2000) emphasizes the
personal and ethical character of our emotions. Emotions are not something that
happen to us, nor are they an irrational part of individuals but emotions are
judgements and strategies that we build about the world and help us to live in it.
Not only sadness but there are other feelings as fear, anger, love, guilt, jealousy,
compassion that are essential to our values, to live happy, healthy, and well.
Solomon points out that if we are able to recognize these feelings, we can make our
emotional live more coherent with our values and be more "true to our feelings"
and cultivate emotional integrity.
First of all we have to understand what normal emotions are for and then
we can consider whether an emotion is abnormal or not. Emotions evolve because
they adjust the body to deal with situations that have occurred again and again
over millions of years. Therefore emotions are useful if they appear in the situation
they evolved for, otherwise we have to consider them as abnormal. None of the
emotions are good nor bad and even negative emotions such as anxiety and
sadness, are as useful as positive emotions are (Nesse, 1990, 1999).
An emotion tends to have a clear focus (i.e., its cause is self-evident), while
mood tends to be more unfocused and diffused. Mood is an affective state that
involves feelings about our general expectations of a future experience of pleasure
or pain, or of positive or negative affect in the future (Batson, Shaw & Oleson,
1992).
Study of animal behaviour from an evolutionary perspective is currently
being applied to human emotions, it is considered that sadness has some adaptive
functions; first of all it help us to develop behaviours to recover from a loss of
107| Sadness versus depression: everyday feelings versus mood disorders: the adaptative
value of sadness
Sadness is a universal emotion, the emotion most closely related to
depression. It has facial and corporal expressions associated to it that are similar
and therefore recognizable in many different cultures (Izard, 1991). Sadness is
normally a response to some kind of loss, health, family, money, job but it is also
linked to a loss of attachment to a child or to a partner, relative or close friend
(Tsuchiya & Adolphs, 2007).
From an evolutionary perspective attachment is adaptive, it begins with the
relation to the bond between mother and baby, so important that the loss of this
attachment, even briefly, can cause sadness in babies and they actively search for
the parent. In the same way attachment is also important for adults and its loss
promotes sadness and the search for another partner. Sadness can also result from
other losses, for example money, job, or lack of success at work.
From an evolutionary perspective sadness has a clear function which is to
motivate the individual to recover from these losses and also to drive us to restore
attachment bonds. The sadness caused by bereavement is the cost of having been
attached, and it may also act as a social signal that is a plea for sympathy as Bowlby
(Bowlby, 1981) points out.
Solomon (Solomon, 2003, 2004, 2006a, 2006b, 2000) emphasizes the
personal and ethical character of our emotions. Emotions are not something that
happen to us, nor are they an irrational part of individuals but emotions are
judgements and strategies that we build about the world and help us to live in it.
Not only sadness but there are other feelings as fear, anger, love, guilt, jealousy,
compassion that are essential to our values, to live happy, healthy, and well.
Solomon points out that if we are able to recognize these feelings, we can make our
emotional live more coherent with our values and be more "true to our feelings"
and cultivate emotional integrity.
First of all we have to understand what normal emotions are for and then
we can consider whether an emotion is abnormal or not. Emotions evolve because
they adjust the body to deal with situations that have occurred again and again
over millions of years. Therefore emotions are useful if they appear in the situation
they evolved for, otherwise we have to consider them as abnormal. None of the
emotions are good nor bad and even negative emotions such as anxiety and
sadness, are as useful as positive emotions are (Nesse, 1990, 1999).
An emotion tends to have a clear focus (i.e., its cause is self-evident), while
mood tends to be more unfocused and diffused. Mood is an affective state that
involves feelings about our general expectations of a future experience of pleasure
or pain, or of positive or negative affect in the future (Batson, Shaw & Oleson,
1992).
Study of animal behaviour from an evolutionary perspective is currently
being applied to human emotions, it is considered that sadness has some adaptive
functions; first of all it help us to develop behaviours to recover from a loss of
107| Sadness versus depression: everyday feelings versus mood disorders: the adaptative
value of sadness
