Chapter 41
Affection
People Affected: everyone
Type of Emotion: sensory reward
Sensory Trigger: the visual and audible differences that separate humans from other primates
Mental Effect: positive
Key Feature: the more incorrect primates excluded, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more proof of interaction, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more past interaction, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more maternal similarity, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more symmetry, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in women
Key Feature: effect stronger if accompanied by sympathetic behavior
Involuntary Expressions: momentary smiling
Type of Emotion: sensory reward
Sensory Trigger: the visual and audible differences that separate humans from other primates
Mental Effect: positive
Key Feature: the more incorrect primates excluded, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more proof of interaction, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more past interaction, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more maternal similarity, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: the more symmetry, the stronger the effect
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in women
Key Feature: effect stronger if accompanied by sympathetic behavior
Involuntary Expressions: momentary smiling
Purpose
Affection encourages everyone to interact with kin.
Kin interaction transfers knowledge to future generations. Children learn by observation when they interact with their parents. They learn simple behaviors such as how to eat different types of food. They also learn complex behaviors, such as cooperating for strength-in-numbers.
Kin interaction does not help parents. Kin interaction transfers knowledge from parents to children.
Kin interaction helps children, but they don’t know it. Children do not realize the value of learning from parents until they become parents.
Kin interaction preserves knowledge when each generation dies. Current generations use knowledge that has been accumulating since affection evolved. Future generations will also use the knowledge that accumulates between now and then. Current parents teach their children to wear seat belts. Future parents will teach their children to wear seat belts and avoid fatty foods.
Schools are now the primary method of transferring knowledge. Schools provide most of the knowledge downloaded to children. Schools are more efficient than kin interaction. One adult teaches 20 children, allowing 20 mothers to work. Schools also increase labor flexibility. Children are not restricted to learning what their parents know.
Affection also encourages kin to help kin.
Affection gives kin a reason to help kin survive. To maintain the affection that kin trigger, people will help kin more than they would help non-kin. You would rescue your brother from a burning house before you would rescue a stranger. You would loan money to your children before you would loan money to a neighbor.
Affection also helps both genders identify suitable mating partners.
Monogynic love is not activated without suddenly strong affection. A woman cannot trigger suddenly strong affection in a man unless she is in frequent contact with him. If she is in frequent contact with a man, she would not have time to court or be courted by another man.
Infatuation does not grow stronger and vaginal pleasure is not elevated without suddenly strong affection. If a woman does not feel suddenly strong affection, her man must not feel suddenly strong affection. If he does not feel suddenly strong affection, he must not have fallen in love. Without the proof of love provided by a woman’s suddenly strong affection, mating is not encouraged.
Sensory Triggers
Visual affection is triggered by the sight of:
Audible affection is triggered by the sound of a human voice talking, laughing or singing.
Affection can also be triggered by stimuli that are recorded or transmitted. Visual affection can be triggered by photographs and video. Audible affection can be triggered by voicemails and telephone calls.
Affection can also be triggered by remembering stimuli. Reading a letter from a friend triggers affection because it causes you to recall memories of the friend’s face and voice.
Affection is mistakenly triggered by humanoid faces and sounds, like pets and music.
Affection could not be self-triggered in the past. Before mirrors, you could not see yourself. Before tape recorders, you could not hear your external voice. While you can hear your internal voice, it does not trigger affection. That particular sound is an affection dead-spot.
Affection can be triggered 3 months after birth. Affection can be triggered when somebody becomes familiar. Involuntary smiling, which is triggered by affection, begins at 3 months when newborns see or hear their mother.
Mental Effect
Affection encourages everyone to interact with kin.
Kin interaction transfers knowledge to future generations. Children learn by observation when they interact with their parents. They learn simple behaviors such as how to eat different types of food. They also learn complex behaviors, such as cooperating for strength-in-numbers.
Kin interaction does not help parents. Kin interaction transfers knowledge from parents to children.
Kin interaction helps children, but they don’t know it. Children do not realize the value of learning from parents until they become parents.
Kin interaction preserves knowledge when each generation dies. Current generations use knowledge that has been accumulating since affection evolved. Future generations will also use the knowledge that accumulates between now and then. Current parents teach their children to wear seat belts. Future parents will teach their children to wear seat belts and avoid fatty foods.
Schools are now the primary method of transferring knowledge. Schools provide most of the knowledge downloaded to children. Schools are more efficient than kin interaction. One adult teaches 20 children, allowing 20 mothers to work. Schools also increase labor flexibility. Children are not restricted to learning what their parents know.
Affection also encourages kin to help kin.
Affection gives kin a reason to help kin survive. To maintain the affection that kin trigger, people will help kin more than they would help non-kin. You would rescue your brother from a burning house before you would rescue a stranger. You would loan money to your children before you would loan money to a neighbor.
Affection also helps both genders identify suitable mating partners.
Monogynic love is not activated without suddenly strong affection. A woman cannot trigger suddenly strong affection in a man unless she is in frequent contact with him. If she is in frequent contact with a man, she would not have time to court or be courted by another man.
Infatuation does not grow stronger and vaginal pleasure is not elevated without suddenly strong affection. If a woman does not feel suddenly strong affection, her man must not feel suddenly strong affection. If he does not feel suddenly strong affection, he must not have fallen in love. Without the proof of love provided by a woman’s suddenly strong affection, mating is not encouraged.
Sensory Triggers
Visual affection is triggered by the sight of:
- smiling
- faces with eyebrows, white eyes, chins, everted lips, philtra, down-facing nostrils
- hands with opposable thumbs
- walking that is bipedal
- bums without tails
- feet without opposable toes
Audible affection is triggered by the sound of a human voice talking, laughing or singing.
Affection can also be triggered by stimuli that are recorded or transmitted. Visual affection can be triggered by photographs and video. Audible affection can be triggered by voicemails and telephone calls.
Affection can also be triggered by remembering stimuli. Reading a letter from a friend triggers affection because it causes you to recall memories of the friend’s face and voice.
Affection is mistakenly triggered by humanoid faces and sounds, like pets and music.
Affection could not be self-triggered in the past. Before mirrors, you could not see yourself. Before tape recorders, you could not hear your external voice. While you can hear your internal voice, it does not trigger affection. That particular sound is an affection dead-spot.
Affection can be triggered 3 months after birth. Affection can be triggered when somebody becomes familiar. Involuntary smiling, which is triggered by affection, begins at 3 months when newborns see or hear their mother.
Mental Effect
Affection varies with the incorrect primates excluded. The more incorrect primates are excluded by a feature, the stronger the positive effect.
Incorrect primates were arboreal, terrestrial, partially-aquatic and fully-aquatic/small-brain. Humans were fully-aquatic/large-brain primates.
Walking, bums and feet excluded arboreal primates. Only terrestrial and aquatic primates can walk bipedally. Only terrestrial and aquatic primates lost their tails and opposable toes.
Faces and hands excluded arboreal and terrestrial primates. Only aquatic primates have eyebrows, white eyes and chins, which they used to communicate underwater with facial expressions like horror and frowning. Only aquatic primates have everted lips, philtra and down-facing nostrils, which prevented water from flooding into their lungs. Only aquatic primates have opposable thumbs, which they used to open shellfish.
Talking excluded arboreal, terrestrial and partially-aquatic primates. Only fully-aquatic primates evolved the advanced breathing control which also produces human speech.
Singing excluded arboreal, terrestrial, partially-aquatic and fully-aquatic/small-brain primates. The only primates with the intelligence and advanced breathing control required to produce a logical sequencing of continuous vocalizations with the acoustics of a human voice were fully-aquatic/large-brain primates.
Walking, bums and feet excluded arboreal primates. Only terrestrial and aquatic primates can walk bipedally. Only terrestrial and aquatic primates lost their tails and opposable toes.
Faces and hands excluded arboreal and terrestrial primates. Only aquatic primates have eyebrows, white eyes and chins, which they used to communicate underwater with facial expressions like horror and frowning. Only aquatic primates have everted lips, philtra and down-facing nostrils, which prevented water from flooding into their lungs. Only aquatic primates have opposable thumbs, which they used to open shellfish.
Talking excluded arboreal, terrestrial and partially-aquatic primates. Only fully-aquatic primates evolved the advanced breathing control which also produces human speech.
Singing excluded arboreal, terrestrial, partially-aquatic and fully-aquatic/small-brain primates. The only primates with the intelligence and advanced breathing control required to produce a logical sequencing of continuous vocalizations with the acoustics of a human voice were fully-aquatic/large-brain primates.
Affection also varies with proof of interaction. The more a feature proves you are interacting with the other person, the stronger the positive effect.
A smiling face triggers stronger affection than a relaxed face. Smiling people feel affection. If you trigger someone’s affection, they must be looking at or listening to you.
Eye contact triggers stronger affection than eyes looking elsewhere. Our unique white eyes make it easy to see that someone is looking at you. If someone is looking at you, that person must be interacting with you.
Whispering in somebody’s ear triggers stronger affection than normal conversation. To hear a whisper, you must be very close to the whisperer.
Sympathetic behavior triggers stronger affection than passive behavior. Dancing or singing to music triggers stronger affection than just listening to music. Sympathetic behavior confirms interaction with the source of the logical sequencing of sounds.
A smiling face triggers stronger affection than a relaxed face. Smiling people feel affection. If you trigger someone’s affection, they must be looking at or listening to you.
Eye contact triggers stronger affection than eyes looking elsewhere. Our unique white eyes make it easy to see that someone is looking at you. If someone is looking at you, that person must be interacting with you.
Whispering in somebody’s ear triggers stronger affection than normal conversation. To hear a whisper, you must be very close to the whisperer.
Sympathetic behavior triggers stronger affection than passive behavior. Dancing or singing to music triggers stronger affection than just listening to music. Sympathetic behavior confirms interaction with the source of the logical sequencing of sounds.
Affection also varies with past interaction. The more you have interacted with somebody, the stronger the positive effect. Kin usually trigger the strongest affection. Early in life, your parents and siblings are the people you have interacted with the most. Later in life, your children become the people you have interacted with the most.
Non-kin can mistakenly trigger strong affection. Spouses, friends and co-workers can easily accumulate as many hours of interacting as kin do. Non-kin triggering of affection helps your group, not your genes. It encourages knowledge transfer between non-kin.
Entertainment stars can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern have accumulated many hours of interaction with their audiences.
Pets can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Pets can trigger surprisingly strong affection, given their non-human faces and lack of a voice. They do it by accumulating more hours of interaction per year than humans do. Pets make eye contact with you more frequently than humans do.
Music can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Like pets, you can accumulate many hours of interaction with a song.
Non-kin can mistakenly trigger strong affection. Spouses, friends and co-workers can easily accumulate as many hours of interacting as kin do. Non-kin triggering of affection helps your group, not your genes. It encourages knowledge transfer between non-kin.
Entertainment stars can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Oprah Winfrey and Howard Stern have accumulated many hours of interaction with their audiences.
Pets can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Pets can trigger surprisingly strong affection, given their non-human faces and lack of a voice. They do it by accumulating more hours of interaction per year than humans do. Pets make eye contact with you more frequently than humans do.
Music can also mistakenly trigger strong affection. Like pets, you can accumulate many hours of interaction with a song.
Affection also varies with maternal similarity. The more somebody looks or sounds like your mother, the stronger the positive effect they trigger in you. Looks-like-your-mother refers to visual features that are not gender or age specific, such as eye color, hair color, skin color and facial bone structure. Sounds-like-your-mother also refers to audible features that are not gender or age specific, such as language and accent.
Affection varies with maternal similarity to encourage interacting with kin. The more somebody looks or sounds like your mother, the more likely they are kin.
The effect of maternal similarity can be seen in urban melting pots. People tend to socialize with and marry people who look and sound like them, even when most people around them do not look or sound like them.
Affection varies with maternal similarity to encourage interacting with kin. The more somebody looks or sounds like your mother, the more likely they are kin.
The effect of maternal similarity can be seen in urban melting pots. People tend to socialize with and marry people who look and sound like them, even when most people around them do not look or sound like them.
Affection also varies with symmetry. The more symmetrical somebody appears to be, the stronger the positive effect.
The more symmetrical a face appears to be, the stronger the affection it triggers, as reported by Dahlia Zaidel in Appearance of Symmetry, Beauty, and Health in Human Faces (Brain and Cognition).
The more symmetrical bipedal movement appears to be, the stronger the affection it triggers. The more symmetrical dancing appears to be, the more people enjoy watching it, as reported by Robert Trivers in Dance Reveals Symmetry Especially in Young Men (Nature).
The more symmetrical somebody is, the fewer genetic defects they have. Affection encourages you to prefer interacting with beautiful people. Their genes are more likely to transfer knowledge to future generations.
Affection, cute and loneliness are generally stronger in women. Women enjoy socializing more. Women enjoy infants more. Women dislike being alone more.
Affection, cute and loneliness are stronger in women because they spend more time with children, who are the targets of the knowledge transferred by kin interaction.
Other Species
Cooperative carnivores feel affection. Affection encourages kin interaction to transfer their methods of cooperating to the next generation.
Examples of kin interaction leading to knowledge transfer have been spotted in cooperative carnivores.
Dolphins have been seen using sponges to protect their noses while they scour the ocean floor looking for food. This was reported by Michael Krutzen in Cultural Tool Use in Bottlenose Dolphins (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
Chimpanzees have been seen using sticks to extract termites from trees, as reported by Andrew Whiten in The Second Inheritance System in Chimpanzees and Humans (Nature).
Captive killer whales have been seen baiting birds by leaving food floating on the water’s surface, then capturing the birds when they land. This was reported in More Animals Join the Learning Circle (NewScientist).
In each of these examples, offspring observed and then copied the innovation.
Flags, Currency, Anthems, Politicians & Royalty
Flags, currency, anthems, politicians and royalty are used to promote patriotism, which is national affection.
Flags and currency are poor promoters of patriotism. Because they are ubiquitous, we accumulate many hours of interaction with these national symbols. However, they do not look or sound like humans.
Anthems are better than flags and currency. They are as ubiquitous as flags and currency, but also include a human or humanoid sound. They are also usually accompanied by the sympathetic behavior of singing.
Politicians and royalty are better than anthems, flags and currency. The media makes them ubiquitous and they obviously look and sound like humans.
Royalty are better than politicians. They accumulate interaction longer than politicians. Queen Elizabeth the Second has been accumulating interaction for more than 80 years.
Poetry and Alliteration
We prefer poetry and alliteration for the same reason we prefer singing. They all trigger strong affection because they are a logical sequencing of human vocalizations.
~ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
The more symmetrical a face appears to be, the stronger the affection it triggers, as reported by Dahlia Zaidel in Appearance of Symmetry, Beauty, and Health in Human Faces (Brain and Cognition).
The more symmetrical bipedal movement appears to be, the stronger the affection it triggers. The more symmetrical dancing appears to be, the more people enjoy watching it, as reported by Robert Trivers in Dance Reveals Symmetry Especially in Young Men (Nature).
The more symmetrical somebody is, the fewer genetic defects they have. Affection encourages you to prefer interacting with beautiful people. Their genes are more likely to transfer knowledge to future generations.
Affection, cute and loneliness are generally stronger in women. Women enjoy socializing more. Women enjoy infants more. Women dislike being alone more.
Affection, cute and loneliness are stronger in women because they spend more time with children, who are the targets of the knowledge transferred by kin interaction.
Other Species
Cooperative carnivores feel affection. Affection encourages kin interaction to transfer their methods of cooperating to the next generation.
Examples of kin interaction leading to knowledge transfer have been spotted in cooperative carnivores.
Dolphins have been seen using sponges to protect their noses while they scour the ocean floor looking for food. This was reported by Michael Krutzen in Cultural Tool Use in Bottlenose Dolphins (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
Chimpanzees have been seen using sticks to extract termites from trees, as reported by Andrew Whiten in The Second Inheritance System in Chimpanzees and Humans (Nature).
Captive killer whales have been seen baiting birds by leaving food floating on the water’s surface, then capturing the birds when they land. This was reported in More Animals Join the Learning Circle (NewScientist).
In each of these examples, offspring observed and then copied the innovation.
Flags, Currency, Anthems, Politicians & Royalty
Flags, currency, anthems, politicians and royalty are used to promote patriotism, which is national affection.
Flags and currency are poor promoters of patriotism. Because they are ubiquitous, we accumulate many hours of interaction with these national symbols. However, they do not look or sound like humans.
Anthems are better than flags and currency. They are as ubiquitous as flags and currency, but also include a human or humanoid sound. They are also usually accompanied by the sympathetic behavior of singing.
Politicians and royalty are better than anthems, flags and currency. The media makes them ubiquitous and they obviously look and sound like humans.
Royalty are better than politicians. They accumulate interaction longer than politicians. Queen Elizabeth the Second has been accumulating interaction for more than 80 years.
Poetry and Alliteration
We prefer poetry and alliteration for the same reason we prefer singing. They all trigger strong affection because they are a logical sequencing of human vocalizations.
~ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.