The evolutionary roots of creativity : mechanisms and motivations
Abstract
We consider the evolution of cognition and the emergence of creative behaviour, in relation to vocal communication. We address two key questions: (i) what cognitive and/or social mechanisms have evolved that afford aspects of creativity?; (ii) has natural and/or sexual selection favoured human behaviours considered ‘creative’? This entails analysis of ‘creativity’, an imprecise construct: comparable properties in non-humans differ in magnitude and teleology from generally agreed human creativity. We then address two apparent problems: (i) the difference between merely novel productions and ‘creative’ ones; (ii) the emergence of creative behaviour in spite of high cost: does it fit the idea that females choose a male who succeeds in spite of a handicap (costly ornament); or that creative males capable of producing a large and complex song repertoire grew up under favourable conditions; or a demonstration of generally beneficial heightened reasoning capacity; or an opportunity to continually reinforce social bonding through changing communication tropes; or something else? We illustrate and support our argument by reference to whale and bird song; these independently evolved biological signal mechanisms objectively share surface properties with human behaviours generally called ‘creative’. Studying them may elucidate mechanisms underlying human creativity; we outline a research programme to do so.
Citation
Wiggins , G A , Tyack , P L , Scharff , C & Rohrmeier , M 2015 , ' The evolutionary roots of creativity : mechanisms and motivations ' , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences , vol. 370 , no. 1664 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0099
Publication
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0962-8436Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2015. The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript of an article originally submitted to the Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences- The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations Wiggins, G. A., Tyack, P. L., Scharff, C. & Rohrmeier, M. Mar 2015 In : Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences. 370, 1664,available from http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1664/20140099
Description
Funding: MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions.Collections
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