What is our most primitive emotion, and have we evolved beyond it?

It seems like survival would be the #1 priority, so maybe fear and defense would be somewhere near the top of the emotions list. As for whether human emotions have changed over time, I doubt it. As far as advancement, as life on Earth changes, cultural norms seem to have more impact on how we act, at least in public, but the basic emotions still seem to stick around.

Fear. And no, it has not diminished, this is what anxiety is. The same fear of the Mastodon crushing you, only, there is no Mastodon in modern times. Now the fear factor gets activated by politics, the economy and what it takes to survive in these modern times.

I think Mastodon related fear is preferable to fear of taxes. lolol

Fear and the need to procreate; I’m not sure which is primary.

@janbb

Both. Fear of not having sex and fear of pregnancy = double fear.
There was no fear around procreating waay back when, it just happened. Now we know it can be prevented.

Lust, and no we have not evolved past it (thank goodness!)

I agree with fear. I think anger is a close second.

Hunger and thirst are very basic emotions, if you can call them that, and have evolved into slap up meals at the Ritz-Carlton. I think we evolve around our emotions rather than beyond them.

Fear. As Joyce Meyer says, “do it even if you must do it afraid.”

I’m going to go with fear, too. Some have evolved farther beyond it than others, but none of us have eliminated the need for fear altogether.

Fear and pleasure developed in tandem. We can tell by the neurological hardware involved. Both are mediated by the same ancient brain organ, the amygdala, which even reptiles possess. It decides what’s to be avoided and what’s to be sought, then forms the associations necessary for learning how to avoid or seek.

I believe fear is probably the strongest, and the one emotion that isn’t linked to anything but your will to survive. It isn’t linked to desires or does not encompass any other factor besides the need to survive. Its plate is pure.
However, I do believe it has evolved into other things, most likely the differing forms of fears which exist. Things like humiliation, anxiety and whatnot, which have come to be because we created more intense and complex types of societies. So now, fear is an entire spectrum, and its source is all but forgotten, unless you’re about to crash into a wall or some guy is trying to kill you.
But all those differing fears are still linked to the original intent, since they spawn from things we deemed as necessary to live, like cable TV and the bar scene.
Okay none of that made sense lol. I know exactly what I wanna say, but it isn’t coming out right lol.
But uh yeah, if you get evicted, you become scared because people need a place to stay. Everyone knows that, it’s a society thing. It’s vital. Weather it’s a landlord or a saber toothed tiger, fear makes you act. You can wage war for land, or for some plitical fuckery, but either way it’s still a goddamn war. It’s like society is a huge web of a few simple things all drawn out, but it remains important because it’s a human thing we subscribe to. So I choose fear. ’‘throws Pokeball’’
I daresay, fear paints everything.

@Symbeline

I agree, culture and society has created a lot of anxiety and mental,emotional health issues that did not really exist in the early centuries of humankind.

Like I said, I’ll take dodging the Sabre tooth tiger over this economy. haha

@Coloma Yeah. It was probably scary as shit, but probably not as politically correct as now.
You’ve had an encounter with a wild cat before…can I stand behind you? XD