Evolutionary Aesthetics

376 Pages·2003·8.45 MB·English

by  Karl Grammer

Eckart Voland· Karl Grammer (Eds.)
Evolutionary Aesthetics
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
Eckart Voland· Karl Grammer (Eds.)
Evolutionary
Aesthetics
With 57 Figures, 11 in Colour, and 7 Tables
Springer
Professor Dr. ECKART VOLAND
Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science
Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10 C
35394 Giessen
Germany
Professor Dr. KARL GRAMMER
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology
University of Vienna
Althanstrasse 14
1090 Vienna
Austria
ISBN 978-3-642-07822-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evolutionary aesthetics I Eckart Voland, Karl Grammer, eds.
p. cm.
"With 57 figures, 10 in color, and 7 tables".
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-642-07822-4 ISBN 978-3-662-07142-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-07142-7
I. Aesthetics-Psychological aspects. 2. Evolutionary psychology. l. Voland, Eckart,
1949-II. Grammer, Karl, 1950-
BH30l.P78E96 2003
111' .85-dc21
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Preface
This book was initiated by a roundtable meeting in April 2001 which was
organized by the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition
Research (KLI) in Altenberg, Austria. The symposium brought together
scientists from various fields who presented their ideas on the evolution of
aesthetics. Aesthetics, as a discipline of philosophy, truly has a rich intel
lectual history. One therefore might be inclined to capitulate to its philo
sophical complexity.
Recent developments in evolutionary theory, however, have helped to
successfully naturalize the specific Humana, above all epistemology and
ethics. This observation encouraged us, also trying to bring together aes
thetics with the Darwinian paradigm. The present volume, therefore, can
be understood as a kind of a "Darwinian sonde" in a field traditionally
occupied by non-Darwinian lines of arguments.
We thank the staff of the KLI for their professional assistance with the
preparation of the meeting. We are grateful to Thomas Weise and Kai
Willfiihr, who showed both commitment and care when helping out dur
ing the various phases of the production of this book. We are especially
grateful to Dr. Adolf Heschl (KLI), who, full of sympathy and enthusiasm
accompanied and supported the enterprise from the very beginning up to
the making of this volume.
Giessen and Vienna, March 2003 Eckart Voland, Karl Grammer
Contents
Introduction ............................................... .
KARL GRAMMER and ECKART VOLAND
I The Problem
Darwinian Aesthetics Informs Traditional Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
RANDY THORNHILL
II From Is to Beauty - From Perception to Cognition
The Beauties and the Beautiful - Some Considerations
from the Perspective of Neuronal Aesthetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . 3. 9 .
OLAF BREIDBACH
The Role of Evolved Perceptual Biases in Art and Design. . . . . . . . .. 69
RICHARD G. Coss
From Sign and Schema to Iconic Representation.
Evolutionary Aesthetics of Pictorial Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 131
CHRISTA SUTTERLIN
III The Fitness of Beauty - Aesthetics and Adaptation
Beauty and Sex Appeal: Sexual Selection of Aesthetic Preferences .. 173
UTA SKAMEL
Beyond Nature Versus Culture: A Multiple Fitness Analysis
of Variations in Grooming .................................... 201
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM and STEPHEN R. SHAMBLEN
Aesthetic Preferences in the World of Artifacts -
Adaptations for the Evaluation of Honest Signals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 239
ECKART VOLAND
VIII Contents
Handaxes: The First Aesthetic Artefacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 261
STEVEN MITHEN
IV Modular Aesthetics
Human Habitat Preferences: A Generative Territory for Evolutionary
Aesthetics Research .......................................... 279
BERNHART Ruso, LEEANN RENNINGER and KLAUS ATZWANGER
Bodies in Motion: A Window to the Soul ........................ 295
KARL GRAMMER, VIKTORIA KEKI, BEATE STRIEBEL,
MICHAELA ATZMULLER and BERNHARD FINK
Perfumes ................................................... 325
MANFRED MILINSKI
Do Women Have Evolved Adaptation for Extra-Pair Copulation? ... 341
RANDY THORNHILL and STEVEN W. GANGESTAD
Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 369
List of Contributors
MICHAELA ATZMULLER
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
KLAUS ATZWANGER
Institute for Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14,
1090 Vienna, Austria
OLAF BREIDBACH
Ernst Haeckel Haus, University of Jena, Berggasse 7, 07745 Jena,
Germany
RICHARD G. Coss
Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis,
CA 95616, USA
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville,
Louisville, KY 40292, USA
BERNHARD FINK
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
STEVEN W. GANGESTAD
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,
NM 87131, USA
KARL GRAMMER
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
VIKTORIA KEKI
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
X List of Contributors
MANFRED MILINSKI
Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Max-Planck-Institute of
Limnology, August -Thienemann- Strasse 2, 24306 Ploen, Germany
STEVEN MITHEN
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences,
University of Reading, Whiteknights, P.o. Box 218, Reading RG6 6AA,
UK
LEEANN RENNINGER
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
BERNHART Ruso
Department of Retailing and Marketing, University of Economics and
Business Administration, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria
STEPHEN R. SHAMBLEN
Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation, 1300 South 4th Street,
Louisville, KY 40208, USA
UTA SKAMEL
Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, Justus-Liebig
University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse lOC, 35394 Giessen, Germany
BEATE STRIEBEL
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, University of Vienna,
Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
CHRISTA SUTTERLIN
Film Archive of Human Ethology of the Max-Planck-Society and
Human Studies Center at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich,
Von-der-Tann-Strasse 3-5, 82346 Andechs, Germany
RANDY THORNHILL
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,
NM 87131, USA
ECKART VOLAND
Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, Justus-Liebig
University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse lOC, 35394 Giessen, Germany
Introduction
KARL GRAMMER and ECKART VOLAND
From Darwin's Thoughts on the Sense of Beauty
to Evolutionary Aesthetics
Humans tend to judge and sort parts of their social and nonsocial envi
ronment permanently into a few basic categories: those parts they like and
those parts they do not. Indeed, we have developed aesthetic preferences
for those things and people we are exposed to. Moreover, needless to say,
these preferences shape our behavioral choices - our tendency to seek out
or avoid what the world has to offer to us. For example, humans and other
animals have evolved preferences for food and habitats, for naturally
occurring sensations like smells and sounds, as well as for the broad array
of culturally created artifacts. Last, but not least, humans have also evolved
aesthetic preferences for their sexual and social companions. Everyone
knows that people may be treated differently according to their physical
appearance. This differential treatment by others starts early in life. Three
month-old children gaze longer at attractive faces than at unattractive
faces. From these results Langlois et al. (1990) concluded that beauty stan
dards are not learned and that there is an innate beauty detector. Attrac
tive children receive less punishment than unattractive children for the
same types of misbehavior. Differential treatment occurs throughout all
school levels, from elementary to university (Baugh and Parry 1991). In
this part of our lives, attractiveness is coupled with academic achieve
ments. Attractive students receive better grades. However, the differentia
tion does not stop there. Even when we apply for jobs, appearance may
dominate qualification (Collins and Zebrowitz 1995). Differential treat
ment according to physical appearance extends even as far as our legal sys
tems, where high attractiveness can lead to better treatment and fewerlless
harsh convictions. However, this is only the case if attractiveness did not
playa role in the crime (Hatfield and Sprecher 1986).
Obviously, we believe that attractive people are better. This mental cou
pling of "beautiful" and "morally good" has had a long tradition in West
ern cultural history. Albertus Magnus' sentence "Das Gute ist dem
Schonen inharent, weil das Schone dasselbe Substrat hat wie das Gute"
(loosely translated: "Well is inherent in the beautiful, as they share the