Does Beauty Build Adapted Minds? Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Aesthetics
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Reference
Tooby, J., Cosmides, L.: Does Beauty Build Adapted Minds? Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Aesthetics, Fictions, and the Arts. Substance 30(1), 6–27 (2001)
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sub.2001.0017
Abstract
Puzzlingly, humans in all cultures engage in a broad variety of aesthetically oriented activities that appear to have no obvious evolutionary utility, including immersion in those falsehoods called fiction. We argue that, despite appearances, aesthetically oriented activities are evolutionarily functional, and are the product of evolved adaptations designed to cause such experiences. These are adaptations whose function is to (1) assist in constructing the adaptations that constitute our species-typical neurocognitive design, and (2) bring those adaptations into a state of effective readiness, individually tailored to deal with the specific adaptive demands that they will confront during that person's life.
Extended Abstract
Bibtex
Used References
Abbott, H. Porter (2000). “The Evolutionary Origins of the Storied Mind: Modeling the Prehistory of Narrative Consciousness and its Discontents.” Narrative. 8(3):247-256.
Barkow, J., L. Cosmides, and J.Tooby, eds. (1992). The Adapted Mind. NY: Oxford UP.
Blurton Jones, N. and M. J. Konner. (1976). “!Kung Knowledge of Animal Behavior” in R. B. Lee and I. DeVore (eds.), Kalahari Hunter-Gatherer.s Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Cosmides, L. and J. Tooby. (1999). “Toward an Evolutionary Taxonomy of Treatable Conditions.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 453-464.
——. (2000a). “Consider the Source: The Evolution of Adaptations for Decoupling and Metarepresentation.” In D. Sperber (Ed.), Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science. NY: Oxford UP.
——. (2000b). “Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions.” In M. Lewis and J. M. Haviland-Jones (eds.), Handbook of Emotions. NY: Guilford.
Dawkins, Richard. 1986. The Blind Watchmaker. NY: W. W. Norton.
Fagen, R. (1981). Animal play behavior. NY: Oxford University Press.
Frederickson, B. (1998). “What Good are Positive Emotions?” Review of General Psychology. 2: 300-319.
Frith, U. (1989). Autism: Explaining the Enigma. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
German, T., and A. Leslie. (2000). “Attending to and Learning about Mental States.” In P. Mitchell and K. Riggs, eds., Reasoning and the Mind. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Leslie, A. (1987). “Pretense and Representation: The Origins of ‘Theory of Mind.’” Psych. Review. 94: 412-426.
Orians, G., and J. Heerwagen. (1992) “Evolved Responses to Landscapes.” In J. Barkow, L. Cosmides, and J. Tooby (Eds.), The Adapted Mind. New York: Oxford UP.
Pinker, S. (1994) The Language Instinct. NY: Morrow.
——. (1997). How the Mind Works. NY: Norton.
Steen, F. and S. Owens (in prep.). “Evolution’s Pedagogy: an Adaptationist Model of Pretense and Entertainment.”
Scalise Sugiyama, M. (1996). “On the Origins of Narrative: Storyteller Bias as a Fitness- Enhancing Strategy.” Human Nature. 7: 403-425.
——. (in prep.). “The cognitive foundations of narrative: the oral tradition as an information storage and transmission system.”
Sperber, Dan. (1996). Explaining Culture: A Naturalistic Approach. Oxford: Blackwell.
Symons, D. (1978). Play and Aggression. NY: ColumbiaUP.
——. (1995). “Beauty is in the Adaptations of the Beholder: The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Female Sexual Attractiveness.” In P.R. Abramson and S.D. Pinkerton (eds.), Sexual Nature, Sexual Culture. Chicago: UCP.
Tooby, J. and L. Cosmides. (1992). “The psychological foundations of culture.” In J. Barkow, L. Cosmides, and J. Tooby (Eds.), The Adapted Mind. NY: Oxford.
Twain, Mark. (1883) Life on the Mississippi. Boston: J. R. Osgood.
Williams, G.C. (1966). Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton UP.
Links
Full Text
http://www.cep.ucsb.edu/papers/beauty01.pdf
