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Project

Cultural evolution, sexual selection, and the case of art appreciation: integrating direct and indirect selection pressures

A central issue in cultural evolution theory which is whether we, humans, adopt cultural traits on the basis of their match with our evolved psychology or whether we adopt traits on account of the context in which they are embedded (e.g., whether they are associated with a successful individual). The issue is equivalent to the question Darwin already posed about the peahen: does she admire the peacocks tail (or train in jargon) on account of its match with her sense of beauty and / or because the tail reflects the males fitness? In this project I will exploit the insights research on mate choice has yielded, to shed light on cultural evolution, where the issue is much less well-understood. In addition, I will develop the case of art. My previous research showed that the answer to the question above depends on expertise of the spectator. I will experimentally examine how (mechanism) and why (function) expertise moderates the effects of beauty and prestige, by combining methods and insights from cognitive science (e.g., facial EMG), experimental social psychology, cultural evolution and philosophy of art. In so doing this project will elucidate pending issues in philosophy (e.g., institutional theory of art), the psychology of art and has implications for understanding cultural evolution in general. Normal 0 21 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:Standaardtabel;mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin-top:12.0pt;mso-para-margin-right:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:0cm;mso-para-margin-left:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

Date:1 Oct 2015 →  30 Sep 2016
Keywords:evolutionary aesthetics, Evolution of art, cultural evolution, expertise, philosophy of art, sexual selection, social psychology, cognitive psychology
Disciplines:Art studies and sciences