Why Do People Have Painful Feelings? An Evolutionary Tale of Misery and Woe

Humans share with other animals the capacity to feel many different kinds of pain. Evolutionary theory proposes that all painful feelings evolved to motivate the organism to avoid problems or stressors in their environment. I apply this perspective to several types of aversive feelings in humans and other organisms. First, squid that have been physically injured show a long-term motivational change that protects them from further injury. …