Social and Moral Emotions. The Positive and Negative Consequences of Contempt

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject Psychology - Personality Psychology, grade: 1,7, University of Kent, language: English, abstract: This essay will examine the social and moral function of the emotion contempt along with its positive and negative consequences for society in general as well as in specific situations. In order to properly discuss and investigate in which contexts contempt is a helpful or harmful emotion, ¿emotion¿ itself must be examined along with its functions.

Paul Ekman defines emotion as the primary function to mobilize the organism to deal quickly with important interpersonal encounters. Applied to a social setting, the key function of emotions is to solve problems, which are important for social relationships. Thus, emotions play have a functional role in guiding individuals in human interactions. However, emotions can also lead a person to irrational action and are even almost guaranteed to be wrong sometimes.