Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I The Comparative Approach
- Part II Sociocultural Anthropology and Evolution
- Part III Evolution and Neuroscience
- Part IV Group Living
- Part V Evolution and Cognition
- Part VI Evolution and Development
- Part VII Sexual Selection and Human Sex Differences
- Part VIII Abnormal Behavior and Evolutionary Psychopathology
- 32 Psychopathology from an Evolutionary Perspective
- 33 Are We on the Verge of Darwinian Psychiatry?
- 34 The Evolution of Pro-social Behavior
- 35 Disordered Social Cognition
- Part IX Applying Evolutionary Principles
- Part X Evolution and the Media
- Index
- References
35 - Disordered Social Cognition
Alexithymia and Interoception
from Part VIII - Abnormal Behavior and Evolutionary Psychopathology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2020
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I The Comparative Approach
- Part II Sociocultural Anthropology and Evolution
- Part III Evolution and Neuroscience
- Part IV Group Living
- Part V Evolution and Cognition
- Part VI Evolution and Development
- Part VII Sexual Selection and Human Sex Differences
- Part VIII Abnormal Behavior and Evolutionary Psychopathology
- 32 Psychopathology from an Evolutionary Perspective
- 33 Are We on the Verge of Darwinian Psychiatry?
- 34 The Evolution of Pro-social Behavior
- 35 Disordered Social Cognition
- Part IX Applying Evolutionary Principles
- Part X Evolution and the Media
- Index
- References
Summary
Alexithymia is a condition characterized by difficulties identifying and describing one’s own emotional states (Nemiah, Freyberger, & Sifneos, 1976). Individuals with alexithymia are often aware that they are experiencing an emotion, but struggle to determine whether it is fear, excitement, or anger, for example. Alexithymia is therefore associated with difficulties describing how one would feel in particular emotional scenarios (Lane et al., 1990), as well as with difficulties regulating one’s emotions (Stasiewicz et al., 2012; Venta, Hart, & Sharp, 2013). This chapter details the behavioral and neurological characteristics of alexithymia, its etiology (including whether it may be evolutionarily adaptive), and its role in emotional impairment across clinical populations. The relationship between alexithymia and interoception (the ability to perceive and recognize the internal state of one’s body) is also discussed, alongside evidence that alexithymia may represent a general deficit of interoception.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020