Well, yes, but lots of human emotional responses are about mediating the perception and signalling of status. Insecurity is (more or less) second-guessing one’s self-perceived status, regardless of the reality of the situation. We might imagine this becoming more useful (and more frequent) in environments where there’s a lot of status competition.
So what happens in an environment where you have a cadre of ridiculously high-status superstimulatory celebrities, with media channels dedicated to demonstrating their high-status qualities and disseminating gossip about them?
Well, yes, but lots of human emotional responses are about mediating the perception and signalling of status. Insecurity is (more or less) second-guessing one’s self-perceived status, regardless of the reality of the situation. We might imagine this becoming more useful (and more frequent) in environments where there’s a lot of status competition.
So what happens in an environment where you have a cadre of ridiculously high-status superstimulatory celebrities, with media channels dedicated to demonstrating their high-status qualities and disseminating gossip about them?
Bloody hell. I think I’ve turned into a feminist.