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Imaginary worlds through the evolutionary lens: Ultimate functions, proximate mechanisms, cultural distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Edgar Dubourg Open the ORCID record for Edgar Dubourg [Opens in a new window]  and
Nicolas Baumard Open the ORCID record for Nicolas Baumard [Opens in a new window]
Edgar Dubourg
Affiliation:
Département d’études Cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris 75005, France. [email protected]
Nicolas Baumard
Affiliation:
Département d’études Cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris 75005, France. [email protected]
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Abstract

We received several commentaries both challenging and supporting our hypothesis. We thank the commentators for their thoughtful contributions, bringing together alternative hypotheses, complementary explanations, and appropriate corrections to our model. Here, we explain further our hypothesis, using more explicitly the framework of evolutionary social sciences. We first explain what we believe is the ultimate function of fiction in general (i.e., entertainment) and how this hypothesis differs from other evolutionary hypotheses put forward by several commentators. We then turn to the proximate features that make imaginary worlds entertaining and, therefore, culturally successful. We finally explore how these insights may explain the distribution of imaginary worlds across time, space, age, and social classes.

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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e309
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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