Nothing in Popular Culture Makes Sense except in the Light of Evolution
- 1 June 2012
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Review of General Psychology
- Vol. 16 (2), 109-120
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027906
Abstract
An evolutionary lens can inform the study of cultural forms in a myriad of ways. These can be construed as adaptations, as exaptations (evolutionary byproducts), as gene–culture interactions, as memes, or as fossils of the human mind. Products of popular culture (e.g., song lyrics, movie themes, romance novels) are to evolutionary cultural theorists what fossils and skeletal remains represent to paleontologists. Although human minds do not fossilize or skeletonize (the cranium does), the cultural products created by human minds do. By identifying universally recurring themes for a given cultural form (song lyrics and collective wisdoms in the current article), spanning a wide range of cultures and time periods, one is able to test key tenets of evolutionary psychology. In addition to using evolutionary psychology to understand the contents of popular culture, the discipline can itself be studied as a contributor to popular culture. Beginning with the sociobiology debates in the 1970s, evolutionary informed analyses of human behavior have engendered great fascination and animus among the public at large. Following a brief summary of studies that have explored the diffusion of the evolutionary behavioral sciences within specific communities (e.g., the British media), I offer a case analysis of the penetration of evolutionary psychology within the blogosphere, specifically the blog community hosted by Psychology Today.Keywords
This publication has 68 references indexed in Scilit:
- Male dance moves that catch a woman's eyeBiology Letters, 2010
- Culture–gene coevolution of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter geneProceedings. Biological sciences, 2009
- Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of childrenHormones and Behavior, 2008
- Convergent adaptation of human lactase persistence in Africa and EuropeNature Genetics, 2006
- Public Acceptance of EvolutionScience, 2006
- Gene-culture coevolution between cattle milk protein genes and human lactase genesNature Genetics, 2003
- Why humans value sensational news: An evolutionary perspectiveEvolution and Human Behavior, 2003
- Male interest in visual cues of sperm competition riskEvolution and Human Behavior, 2002
- Sex differences in mate selection strategies: Content analyses and responses to personal advertisements in BrazilEvolution and Human Behavior, 2002
- The Dialogue of Courtship in Popular SongsAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1957