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The deep history of imaginary worlds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Polly Wiessner Open the ORCID record for Polly Wiessner [Opens in a new window]
Polly Wiessner*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA and Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, [email protected]; https://shesc.asu.edu/people/pauline-wiessner
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Abstract

If recent exploratory traditions tap into evolved psychological dispositions to explore, wouldn't humans be expected to have drawn on such dispositions long before the written word? Trickster oral traditions fill this role in all levels of society, affluence, and on all continents, inverting the boundaries of social worlds and those between humans and animals, fostering cultural innovation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e304
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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