Warmth:

Warmth as a Developmental Construct: An Evolutionary Analysis, 1992:

>An ethological analysis of the parent-child behaviors labeled as warm and affectionate utilizes a generalized version of Bowlby's (1974) idea of a "natural clue." A natural clue is a stimulus that results in an affective response as the result of a biologically mediated (unlearned) connection. Thus, for example, if sugar is presented as a gustatory stimulus, the typical result is the pleasant taste of sweetness. Similarly, the stimulus of the mother exceeding the child's attachment set point is a natural clue for the activation of the attachment system. Children do not have to learn these connections by trial and error or as a result of generalization from some more fundamental set of reinforcers or punishers: the basic result of Harlow's experiments with monkeys (e.g., Harlow & Harlow, 1965) as well as similar research on dogs (Igel & Calvin, 1960) is that the secondary drive theory of social reinforcers is incorrect. The list of evolved motivational systems must be expanded beyond the list of a few basic drives posited by behaviorists and psychoanalysts as the basis of human motivation.

The essential proposal here is that the human affectional system be conceptualized as an evolved reward system. The stimuli that activate this system act as natural clues for pleasurable affective response. Intimate relationships are thus pleasurable to the participants and are actively sought after. Their termination is met with disappointment and grief, while there is eager anticipation of reunion with a loved one.

On the other hand, individuals who do not seek to engage in intimate relationships lack an understanding of the attractions of close relationships. Freeman and Leaf (1989) describe schizoid individuals as seeming "to have little or no idea about why people affiliate. They see other people involved in relationships but see relating as part of a different language, culture, or universe" (p. 419). From the present perspective, these individuals are like people who cannot taste sugar: such a person would have no subjective basis by which they could come to value foods with sugar.<

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>Attachment research and the research on early parent-child interaction clearly indicate highly pleasurable interactions to be charac- teristic of parent-child relationships labeled as warm and affectionate - the dance of affective modulation whose goal is "to be with and enjoy someone else" (Stern, 1977, p. 71) or to "maintain a relational state that is eval- uated positively" (Tronick, 1982, p. 3).<

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"much of the psychological research in the areas of altruism and prosocial behavior is concerned with emotions such as guilt, empathy, and sympathy, as well as negative emotions resulting from nonreciprocated altruistic behavior (Charlesworth, 1990; MacDonald, 1988)."