Swinging between egoism and altruism: Emotions as the basis of human sociality

Abstract

Recently there have been accumulating evidences on the mechanism of some emotions supporting human sociality. In this essay, firstly, I point out that humankind’s ultimate strength is the higher and sophisticated sociality. And then, on the basis of recent trends of socio-emotional psychology and behavioral economics, I discuss the function of some emotions as estimator and/or coordinator of the balance of interests and welfares between self and others. Additionally, I mention the nature of shame, sensitizing us to others’ social “eyes” and orienting us towards moral conducts.