Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture

Contents
About the Editors
Contributors
Introduction
	1 What Imaginative Culture Is and Why It Matters
	2 The Historical and Disciplinary Context for Evolutionary Research on Imaginative Culture
	3 Content and Plan of the Volume
	4 A Biocultural Toolkit
		4.1 Tinbergen’s Four Categories for Ethological Analysis
		4.2 Comparative Methods for Illuminating Human Nature
		4.3 Individual Identity
	5 Organization of the Volume
	6 Directions for Further Research
	References
Part I: Imagination: Evolution, Mechanisms, and Functions
Imagination, the Brain’s Default Mode Network, and Imaginative Verbal Artifacts
	1 Introduction
	2 Globularization, Imagination, and Behavioral Modernity
	3 The Brain’s Default Mode Network
	4 Core Processes of Imagination
		4.1 Simulation, Mental Time Travel, and Perspective Taking
		4.2 Stegner’s Angle of Repose: Simulation, Mental Time Travel, Perspective Taking
	5 Literary Forms of Dreaming, Mind-Wandering, Autobiographical Narrative, and Counterfactual Thinking
	6 Conclusion: The Adaptive Functions of Imagination and of Literature
	References
The Evolution of Imagination and Fiction Through Generativity and Narrative
	1 Cognition, Memory, and Prediction
	2 Narrative, Identity, and Worldview
	3 Belief, Reality Monitoring, and Absorption
	4 Motivation, Culture, and Niche Construction
	5 Evolutionary Functions of Fiction
	6 Mental Time Travel, Theory of Mind, and Language
	7 Creativity
	8 Conclusions
	References
Imagination, Symbolic Cognition, and Human Evolution: The Early Arts Facilitated Group Survival
	1 Imagination and Its Components: Localized and Interconnected Neural Networks in the Brain
	2 Evolution of Homo sapiens in Africa: The Dependence on the Imagination
	3 Ochre Clay, Color Pigments, and Symbolic Cognition: An Early Art Expression
	4 Evolutionary Pressures: Sealing Social Cracks with Imagination and Art
	5 The Arts Did Not Emerge All at Once: Symbolic Communication and Stages in Art Practices
		5.1 Painting the Body: Color-Related
		5.2 Symbolic Message of Unity: Group Kinetic Synchronization
		5.3 Music-Related Symbols of Unity: Sound Rhythms and Musical Chorality
		5.4 Unity of Thoughts and Actions: Storytelling and Theater-Like Acting
	6 Summary and Conclusions
	References
Part II: Myth and Religion
Mimesis and Myth: Evolutionary Roots of Psychological Self-Understanding
	1 Social Reputation and the Attribution of Traits
	2 Mimesis
	3 Language, Story, and Myth
	4 Narrating the Self
	5 Conclusion
	References
Imagining the Gods
	References
Part III: Aesthetic Theory
Key Stimuli and Power Objects: Aesthetics and Our Innate Sensibilities
	1 Key Stimuli and Inborn Sensibilities
	2 Human Beauty
	3 Inverted Triangles and Hourglass Figures: The Key Stimuli of the Body
	4 Colors as Key Stimuli
	5 Shapes, Materials, and Textures
	6 The Beautiful Landscape: The Good Habitat
	7 Disgust and Aversion
	8 Key Narratives and Universal Alpha Themes in Fiction
	9 Simulation Seeking and Habituation: The Evolution and Variation of Artistic Expression
	10 Making Special: Concluding Remarks
	References
The Role of Aesthetic Style in Alleviating Anxiety About the Future
	1 What Is Style?
	2 Perception and Information
	3 Style and Prediction
	4 Conclusion: Some Predictions
	References
Part IV: Music
Music and the Evolution of Embodied Cognition
	1 Archaeology
	2 Adaptation
	3 Structures
	4 Neural Systems
	5 Emotion
	6 Aesthetics
	References
Part V: Visual and Plastic Arts
The Influence of Image Salience on the Artistic Renditions of Cave Lions in the Early Upper Paleolithic
	1 The Implications of Innate Face Recognition and Contextual Assessment
	2 Contextual Figure-Ground Segmentation
	3 Sources of Natural Selection Promoting Felid Recognition
	4 Effects of Prolonged Relaxed Selection on Felid Salience
	5 Experimental Studies of Human Responses to Lion Images
	6 Cave Lion Portrayals in the Early Upper Paleolithic
	7 Conclusion
	References
Evolutionary Constraints on Creativity in the Visual and Plastic Arts
	1 Evolutionary Constraints on Creativity in the Visual and Plastic Arts
	2 Evolutionary Origins and their Relevance to Understanding Present-Day Art
	3 Variety Versus Commonalities in Human Art
	4 Candidate Aesthetic Universals: Products, Processes, and Sociocultural Functions
		4.1 Products
		4.2 Processes
		4.3 Sociocultural Functions
	5 Static Rigidity Versus Dynamic Flexibility in Aesthetic Universals
	6 Tensions between Radical Novelty and Aesthetic Biases
	7 Ways Out of the Impasse
	8 Conclusion
	References
Part VI: Video Games and Films
“Unbreakable, Incorruptible, Unyielding”: Doom as an Agency Simulator
	1 Agency: Real and Virtual
	2 Doom as an Agency Simulator
	3 Gameplay
	4 Audio
	5 Narrative
	6 Conclusion
	References
Cliodynamics and Dramatic Performances
	1 A Cliodynamic Approach to Ritual Experience
	2 Dysphoric Dramatic Performances, 1950–1980
	References
Part VII: Oral Narratives and Literature
Descent with Imagination: Oral Traditions as Evolutionary Lineages
	1 Folktale Phylogenetics
	2 Folktales, Languages, and Genes: The Plot Thickens
	3 The Endurance of Oral Traditions
	References
I’m with You Till the End of the Line: The Romanticization of Male Bonds
	1 Societal Benefits of Male–Male Bonds
	2 Male Bonds in Fiction
	3 Women and the Romance of Bromance … The Heart of Slash Fiction
	4 Why Do Women Sexualize the Bromance?
		4.1 Popular Culture and Literary Approaches
		4.2 Evolutionary Approaches to the Romanticization of the Bonds Between Men
	5 How Bromance Is Romanticized: Subgenres, Plot Devices, and What They Tell Us
	6 Conclusions
	References
Literary Representations of Parental Investment: Fitness Quandaries and Strategic Decisions
	1 The Value of Offspring
	2 Costs of Parental Investment
	3 Preferential Parental Investment
	4 Quality and Effectiveness of Parental Investment
	References
Why the World Is a Better Place with Stephen King in It: An Evolutionary Perspective
	1 The Divided Reception of Stephen King
	2 The Uses of King’s Horror: An Evolutionary Perspective
	3 Charting the Dark Corners of the Psychological World: Pet Sematary
	4 Moral Calibration: Agonistic Structure in It
	5 The Value of King and Directions for Future Research
	References
Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad’s Confrontation with Amoral Nature
	1 Heart of Darkness (1899)
	2 Conclusion
	References
Index