Emotion, evolution of

Here we outline the development of the evolutionary study of emotion. We begin with the work of Charles Darwin, who initiated the study of the evolution of emotion. Since then, at least three different approaches to the subject have emerged in the literature. The orthodox 'basic emotions' or 'affect program' view developed in the 1960s out of human ethology and psychological and physiological studies of emotion. Both the Evolutionary Psychology movement and the transactional approach to emotion developed in the 1960s and 1970s, amending the orthodox approach in different ways. In recent years, particular attention has been paid to the evolution of moral emotions, such as shame, pride, and moral disgust.