title: Hubris: a primal danger.
abstract: Although the myth of Oedipus has been linked with psychiatry through the words of Sigmund Freud, it has not been remembered in the context of its playwright's intention. Sophocles gave Oedipus to his fellow Athenians as a warning (Knox, 1984). That warning was about hubris. This paper proposes that warnings about hubris have appeared on our phylogenetic radar. It concludes that these archetypal warnings have been essential for our species, as strivings for power and status endanger prosocial behaviors critical for survival. This idea has support from recent studies about cooperative behavior, fairness, and reciprocity that suggest we are predisposed to protect prosocial behaviors and punish that which threatens them. The paper ultimately encourages clinicians to differentiate between pride and hubris, related emotional states that drive very different motivational and goal-directed responses in moral decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry at West Virginia University in Morgantown, USA. dtrumbull@hsc.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trumbull
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D009014:Morals; D009042:Motivation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012919:Social Behavior