Do you know what are the basic emotions?

I’ll now talk about basic emotions. But before I do that, let me tell you about how I do research. This is very important. Some scientists create a hypothesis and sometimes take centuries to find out that that hypothesis can become scientifically proven research and reach us as a product or teachings that can change our lives. I love hypotheses, and I love science.

Speaking of emotions and science, let me tell you how our emotions were proven by scientists.

Charles Darwin in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) defends the idea that our emotions are the result of an evolutionary process that guaranteed the survival of our species. Exhibiting an adequate reaction to an adequate moment has ensured more chances of survival to the primitive man.

Years later, going against most of Darwin’s ideas, anthropologist Margaret Mead (1967) stated the opposite. Facial expressions would undergo changes from one culture to another.

Between this dilemma of Darwin and Mead’s theories, American psychologist Paul Ekman carried out experiments with people in many countries. He confirmed that the facial signs of every individual were the same when they experienced an emotion, no matter which country they were from.

Ekman’s most important work is a research carried out in 1968 in New Guinea, Oceania. He needed an isolated civilization, without the media presence and influence, to point out the social influence in the shaping and expression of basic emotions. And for that, the Fore tribe was perfect. This tribe lived basically in the Stone Age, with no access to technology whatsoever. They were photographed and filmed without letting those elements contaminate their emotions, as the had never seen those types of equipment before.

So, do you know what are the basic emotions?