The evolution of nonverbal emotion displays: The maintenance of signal honesty by punishment

Individual differences in the ability to recognize emotion displays relate strongly to emotional intelligence, and emotional and social competence. However, there is a difference between the ability to judge the emotions of another person (i.e., emotional empathy) and the ability to take the perspective of another person, including making accurate appraisals, attributions, and inferences about the mental states of others (i.e., cognitive empathy). In this chapter, we review the concept of emotional empathy and the current state of the field, including emerging and converging evidence from neuroscience research that emotional and cognitive empathy involve doubly dissociable brain systems. We also discuss emerging literature on the physiological mechanisms underlying empathy in the peripheral and central nervous systems. We then distinguish spontaneous and symbolic communication processes to show how cognitive empathy emerges from emotional empathy during development. Development starts with the prelinguistic mutual contingent responsiveness of infant and caregiver yielding “raw” primary intersubjectivity, then secondary and tertiary intersubjectivity advances with increasing social experience, and finally cognitive empathic abilities expand in perspective taking and Theory of Mind (ToM) skills. We then present an Affect-Reason-Involvement (ARI) model to guide the conceptualization and measurement of emotional and cognitive empathy. We consider emotion correlation scores as a flexible and valid approach to empathy measurement, with implications for understanding the role of discrete emotions in decision making. Finally, we apply this reasoning to recent studies of the role of emotion and empathy in bullying.

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A review and assessment of the Shared-Pathway Hypothesis for the maintenance of signal honesty in red ketocarotenoid-based coloration

Integrative and Comparative Biology ◽

10.1093/icb/icab056 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew J Powers ◽

Geoffrey E Hill

Keyword(s):

Mitochondrial Function ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Condition Dependence ◽

Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism ◽

Cellular Processes ◽

Color Displays ◽

Signal Honesty ◽

Empirical Tests ◽

And Performance ◽

Individual Condition

Abstract For decades, scientists have noted connections between individual condition and carotenoid-based coloration in terrestrial and aquatic animals. Organisms that produce more vibrant carotenoid-based coloration tend to have better physiological performance and behavioral displays compared to less colorful members of the same species. Traditional explanations for this association between ornamental coloration and performance invoked the need for color displays to be costly, but evidence for such hypothesized costs is equivocal. An alternative explanation for the condition-dependence of carotenoid-based coloration, the Shared-Pathway Hypothesis, was developed in response. This hypothesis proposes that red ketocarotenoid-based coloration is tied to core cellular processes involving a shared pathway with mitochondrial energy metabolism, making the concentration of carotenoids an index of mitochondrial function. Since the presentation of this hypothesis, empirical tests of the mechanisms proposed therein have been conducted in many species. In this manuscript, we review the Shared-Pathway Hypothesis and the growing number of studies that have investigated a connection between carotenoid-based coloration and mitochondrial function. We also discuss future strategies for assessing the Shared-Pathway Hypothesis to more effectively disentangle evidence that may simultaneously support evidence of carotenoid-resource tradeoffs.

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What maintains signal honesty in animal colour displays used in mate choice?

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2016.0343 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 372 (1724) ◽

pp. 20160343 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Ryan J. Weaver ◽

Rebecca E. Koch ◽

Geoffrey E. Hill

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Female Mate Choice ◽

Honest Signalling ◽

Honest Signals ◽

Explicit Consideration ◽

Signal Honesty ◽

Physiological Pathways ◽

Index Hypothesis ◽

Male Ornaments ◽

Colour Signals

Many of the colour displays of animals are proposed to have evolved in response to female mate choice for honest signals of quality, but such honest signalling requires mechanisms to prevent cheating. The most widely accepted and cited mechanisms for ensuring signal honesty are based on the costly signalling hypothesis, which posits that costs associated with ornamentation prevent low-quality males from being highly ornamented. Alternatively, by the index hypothesis, honesty can be achieved via cost-free mechanisms if ornament production is causally linked to core physiological pathways. In this essay, we review how a costly signalling framework has shaped empirical research in mate choice for colourful male ornaments and emphasize that alternative interpretations are plausible under an index signalling framework. We discuss the challenges in both empirically testing and distinguishing between the two hypotheses, noting that they need not be mutually exclusive. Finally, we advocate for a comprehensive approach to studies of colour signals that includes the explicit consideration of cost-free mechanisms for honesty. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application’.

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Signal honesty and cost of pollinator rewards in Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae)

Annals of Botany ◽

10.1093/aob/mcs091 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 109 (7) ◽

pp. 1331-1340 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Christophe Pélabon ◽

Patrick Thöne ◽

Thomas F. Hansen ◽

W. Scott Armbruster

Keyword(s):

Signal Honesty ◽

Pollinator Rewards

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Social context and culture influence judgments of non-Duchenne smiles

Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science ◽

10.1007/s41809-020-00066-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 309-321

Author(s):

Shushi Namba ◽

Magdalena Rychlowska ◽

Anna Orlowska ◽

Hillel Aviezer ◽

Eva G. Krumhuber

Keyword(s):

Contextual Information ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Contextual Influences ◽

Basic Emotions ◽

Cultural Variations ◽

Emotion Displays ◽

Positive Feelings ◽

The Uk ◽

Duchenne Smiles

Abstract Extant evidence points toward the role of contextual information and related cross-cultural variations in emotion perception, but most of the work to date has focused on judgments of basic emotions. The current research examines how culture and situational context affect the interpretation of emotion displays, i.e. judgments of the extent to which ambiguous smiles communicate happiness versus polite intentions. We hypothesized that smiles associated with contexts implying happiness would be judged as conveying more positive feelings compared to smiles paired with contexts implying politeness or smiles presented without context. In line with existing research on cross-cultural variation in contextual influences, we also expected these effects to be larger in Japan than in the UK. In Study 1, British participants viewed non-Duchenne smiles presented on their own or paired with background scenes implying happiness or the need to be polite. Compared to face-only stimuli, happy contexts made smiles appear more genuine, whereas polite contexts led smiles to be seen as less genuine. Study 2 replicated this result using verbal vignettes, showing a similar pattern of contextual effects among British and Japanese participants. However, while the effects of vignettes describing happy situations was comparable in both cultures, the influence of vignettes describing polite situations was stronger in Japan than the UK. Together, the findings document the importance of context information in judging smile expressions and highlight the need to investigate how culture moderates such influences.

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