The Origin of Emotions
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    • 5 Types of Emotion
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    • Conceptions >
      • Maternal Love
      • Maternal Grief
      • Grandmaternal Love
      • Grandmaternal Grief
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      • Monogynic Grief
      • Other Types of Love
      • Other Types of Grief
      • Infatuation
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    • Sensations >
      • Survival Rewards
      • Survival Coercions
      • Survival Punishments
      • Visual/Audible Pleasure
      • Penile Pleasure
      • Penile Orgasm
      • Vaginal Pleasure
      • Vaginal Orgasm
      • Female Nipple Pleasure
      • Male Nipple Pleasure
      • Clitoral Pleasure
      • Clitoral Orgasm
      • Other Types of Sexual Pleasure
      • Lust
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      • Affection
      • Cute
      • Loneliness
      • Excitement
      • Boredom
    • Reflexes >
      • Startle
      • Fear
    • Involuntary Expressions >
      • Horror
      • Momentary Frowning
      • Prolonged Frowning
      • Momentary Smiling
      • Crying
      • Prolonged Smiling
      • Blushing
    • Voluntary Expressions >
      • Anger
      • Laughter
    • Best For The Species
    • Summary
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Chapter 8
Grandmaternal Grief

People Affected:  grandmothers of dead grandchildren
Type of Emotion:  conceptual punishment
Conceptual Trigger:  “ my grandchild is dead ” 
Mental Effect:  negative
Key Feature:  not triggered in pre-menopausal grandmothers
Key Feature:  the closer the child was to puberty, the stronger the effect
Involuntary Expression:  prolonged frowning
Synonym:  sorrow
Purpose 
Grandmaternal grief encourages grandmothers to help protect their grandchildren.  Grandmothers primarily help by sharing experience.

Conceptual Trigger 
Grandmaternal grief is not triggered in pre-menopausal grandmothers.  Pre-menopausal grandmothers maximize their reproduction by having more children. 

Pre-menopausal grandmothers may feel loneliness when a grandchild dies.  This negative effect is mistakenly believed to be grandmaternal grief. 

Grandmaternal grief is triggered by a grandchild’s death, whether the grandmother could have prevented it or not.  This encourages grandmothers to treat all death as preventable.  Grandmothers also want to know if power lines cause leukemia.

Mental Effect
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Grandmaternal grief varies with a grandchild’s death age.  The closer a grandchild was to puberty, the stronger the negative effect.  Grandmothers whose grandchildren die as teenagers feel the strongest grief.

Other Species
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Other species do not feel grandmaternal love and grief.  Grandmothers have not evolved in other species, but good mothers have.

Grandmothers are post-menopausal beyond the sexual maturity of their last born.  Humans are post-menopausal for 35 years and need 16 years to reach sexual maturity.

Good mothers are only post-menopausal long enough for their last born to reach sexual maturity, but not beyond.  Examples of good mothers include pilot whales, baboons and lions.  Pilot whales are post-menopausal for 12 years and their offspring need 12 years to reach sexual maturity.  Baboons are post-menopausal for 5 years and need 5 years to reach sexual maturity.  Lions are post-menopausal for 2 years and need 2 years to reach sexual maturity.
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Happiness Dissected  is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.
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