Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Evolutionary or biocultural theorizing about horror films has been slow to gain traction in film studies, but the field has seen two recent book publications, Mastering Fear by Rikke Schubart and Primal Roots of Horror Cinema by Carrol L. Fry. Unfortunately, neither book is poised to make a substantial impact on evolutionary horror film theory. Mastering Fear ultimately undermines its own engagement with evolutionary social science, and Primal Roots of Horror Cinema stops short of contributing substantially to the field beyond its compelling argument for the relevance of evolutionary social science to film studies. Plenty of work remains to be done at the fertile junction between evolutionary psychology and horror film.

Part I: The Evolution of Imagination -- The Behaviorally Modern Human Imagination -- The Evolution of Imagination through Narratives and Belief -- Part II: Meta-Narratives -- Imagining the Gods -- The Evolution of Traits and Stories: Two Rival Templates for Self-Understanding -- Descent with Imagination: The Cultural Evolution of Traditional Narratives -- The Unimaginable Place in Nature: Literary Resistance to Darwinian Evolution -- Epic Communities and Cosmic Apprenticeship: Group-Belonging and Social Learning in Popular Science Books -- Part III: Aesthetics, Music, and the Plastic Arts -- Tapping the Imagination at the Dawn of Human Culture: Art, Brain and Evolutionary Pressures -- Evolutionary Constraints on Creativity in the Visual and Plastic Arts -- The Role of Aesthetic Style in Framing Cognitive Orientation Towards the Future -- The Evolution of Music: A Paradigm of Embodied Cognition -- The Influence of Image Salience on Artistic Expression: Cross-Cultural Examples of Large Felid Predators -- Key Stimuli and Power Objects: Aesthetics and Humans' Inborn Sensibilities -- Part IV: Film, Media, and Performance -- Film and Coevolution: Kubrick's Movies as Modes of Religious Ritual -- Why Women Love Bromance: The Rise of Slash Fiction -- "Unbreakable, Incorruptible, Unyielding": Doom as an Agency Simulator -- Part V: Literature -- Adaptive Flights of Fancy: An Evolutionary Perspective on Speculative Fiction -- Narrative and Verse—and Comics -- Literary Representations of Parental Investment: Emotional Quandaries and Strategic Decisions.

How far has the Darwinian revolution come? To what extent have evolutionary ideas penetrated into the social sciences and humanities? Are the "science wars" over? Or do whole blocs of disciplines face off over an unbridgeable epistemic gap? To answer questions like these, contributors to top journals in 22 disciplines were surveyed on their beliefs about human nature, culture, and science. More than 600 respondents completed the survey. Scoring patterns divided into two main sets of disciplines. Genetic influences were emphasized in the evolutionary social sciences, evolutionary humanities, psychology, empirical study of the arts, philosophy, economics, and political science. Environmental influences were emphasized in most of the humanities disciplines and in anthropology, sociology, education, and women's or gender studies. Confidence in scientific explanation correlated positively with emphasizing genetic influences on behavior, and negatively with emphasizing environmental influences. Knowing the current actual landscape of belief should help scholars avoid sterile debates and ease the way toward fruitful collaborations with neighboring disciplines.