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The author considers the biological basis of the arts in human evolution, which she holds to be grounded in ethology and interpersonal neurobiology. In the arts, she argues, ordinary reality becomes extraordinary by attention-getting, emotionally salient devices that also appear in ritualized animal behaviors, many kinds of play, and the playful interactions of human mothers with their infants. She hypothesizes that these interactions evolved in humans as a behavioral adaptation to a reduced gestation period, promoting emotional bonding between human mothers and their especially helpless infants. She notes that the secretion of opioids, including oxytocin, that accompany birth, lactation, and care giving in all mammals is amplified in human mothers by these devices, producing feelings of intimacy and trust that engender better child care. The same devices, exapted and acquired culturally as arts, she argues, became prominent features of group ritual ceremonies that reduced anxiety and unified participants, which also offered evolutionary advantages. Key words: artification; ethology; interpersonal neurobiology; mother-infant play; origins of the arts
F or more than five decades, I have investigated and pondered the biological basis of the arts. When, where, and how did the arts begin in human evolution? Why did they arise and become an enduring part of the human repertoire on every continent and in every environment and cultural group, and evident even in every toddler and child? Is there a common feature that characterizes all art?
My first (and continuing) point of departure is ethology-the biology of behavior. Because the way of life (behavior) of any animal has evolved to help it survive in a particular environment, ethologists observe animals in their natural habitat. Because the human species has spent more than 99 percent of its time on earth living as hunter-gatherers, my focus (on the human animal) has been on pre modern or traditional ways of life.
When looking for universal features of the arts, contemporary ideas about arts and aesthetics are misleading. Traditional societies often have no word for art, even though they practice arts in forms such as decorating (bodies and objects), carving, singing, dancing, drumming, chanting, playing instruments, speaking poetically, giving dramatic presentations, enhancing their surroundings-and have words for all these activities. Such societies also have words for beauty, skill, and even aesthetic...