Evolving Positive and Negative Affect?

In Don Norman's book, Emotional Design: Why We Love or Hate Everyday Objects, he lists some of the factors that Decision Science implicates as innately predisposing humans to either positive or negative affect:

"What are people genetically programmed for? Those situations and
objects that, throughout evolutionary history, offer food, warmth, or protection
give rise to positive affect. These conditions include:

warm, comfortably lit places,
temperate climate,
sweet tastes and smells,
bright, highly saturated hues,
“soothing” sounds and simple melodies and rhythms,
harmonious music and sounds,
caresses,
smiling faces,
rhythmic beats,
“attractive” people,
symmetrical objects,
rounded, smooth objects
“sensuous” feelings, sounds, and shapes.

Similarly, here are some of the conditions that appear to produce automatic
negative affect:

heights,
sudden, unexpected loud sounds or bright lights,
“looming” objects (objects that appear to be about to hit the observer),
extreme hot or cold,
darkness,
extremely bright lights or loud sounds,
empty, flat terrain (deserts),
crowded dense terrain (jungles or forests),
crowds of people,
rotting smells, decaying foods
bitter tastes,
sharp objects,
harsh, abrupt sounds,
grating and discordant sounds,
misshapen human bodies,
snakes and spiders,
human feces (and its smell),
other people’s body fluids,
vomit. "

The simplist explanation of Global Warming

The Earth is absorbing more heat than it is emitting.

Activation of immune system and inflammation mediators (from Holgate 2003)

The Human Immune System is an extremely sophisticated chemical signaling systems, with the capacity to produce almost unlimited variability within a homeostatic regulatory framework that is just being glimpsed. Innate and acquired immunity are mediated by a large number of systems and subsystems, including the complement system, chemokines, cytokines, lipid-signalling molecules, etc. Inflammation, the process of capillary dilation, smooth muscle contraction, and recruitment of immune cells, utilizes seven major pathways.

Cellular and Plasma Inflammation Mediators:


Plasma Inflammation Mediators


COX/LOX Lipid Inflammation Pathway



"It is unclear to what extent the nature of an inflammatory trigger dictates the type of mediator induced. In addition, many (but not all) mediators not only have direct effects on target tissues but also themselves induce the production of additional mediators.
It will be important to understand the logic underlying this hierarchy of mediators."(Medzhitov, 2008)

Seven types of Inflammation Mediators (Medzhitov, 2008):
1. Vasoconstrictive amines: histamine, serotonin
2. Vasoactive Peptides: Substance P, etc
3. Complement Fragments: C3a, C4a, C5a
4. Lipid Mediators: eicosanoids,
5. Cytokines: TNF, IL-1, IL-6, etc
6. Chemokines
7. Proteolytic enzymes






1. Baroody FM, Naclerio RM. Antiallergic effects of H1-receptor antagonists. Allergy. 2000;55(s64):17-27.
2. Holgate ST, Broide D. New targets for allergic rhinitis a disease of civilization. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2003 November;2(11):903-915.
3. Medzhitov R. Origin and physiological roles of inflammation. Nature. 2008 July 24;454(7203):428-435.