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Multi-level selection, social signaling, and the evolution of human suffering gestures: The example of pain behaviors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Jacob M. Vigil  and
Eric Kruger
Jacob M. Vigil
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131–1161. [email protected]@unm.eduhttp://www.unm.edu/~psych/faculty/sm_vigil.html
Eric Kruger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131–1161. [email protected]@unm.eduhttp://www.unm.edu/~psych/faculty/sm_vigil.html
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Abstract

Pain suffering has been naturally selected to be experienced and expressed within a wider social system. The communication of pain improves group coordination and decision-making about engaging in resource dependent and potentially risky endeavors. Recent findings warrant the development of a cohesive framework for understanding the reciprocal nature of pain expression and individual and group-level outcomes that can generate novel predictions on the heuristical expression of human suffering in naturalistic and clinical settings.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e56
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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