Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-blhq5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-26T12:04:04.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The evolution of imagination and the adaptive value of imaginary worlds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Richard Moore  and
Thomas Hills Open the ORCID record for Thomas Hills [Opens in a new window]
Richard Moore
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences Building, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK Richard.Moore@warwick.ac.uk; https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/people/summaries/moore/
Thomas Hills
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK T.T.Hills@warwick.ac.uk; https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/psych/people/thills/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Characterizing the cultural evolution of imaginary worlds as a hedonic but non-adaptive exaptation from evolved exploratory tendencies, Dubourg and Baumard defend too narrow a conception of the adaptive evolution of imaginary worlds. Imagination and its imaginary worlds are ancient and adaptive, allowing deliberation over actions, consequences, and futures worth aspiring to, often engendering the world we see around us.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e288
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Dennett, D. (1996) Darwin's dangerous idea. Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Eliav, T., Maimon, S. R., Aljadeff, J., Tsodyks, M., Ginosar, G., Las, L., & Ulanovsky, N. (2021). Multiscale representation of very large environments in the hippocampus of flying bats. Science, 372(6545), eabg4020, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hills, T. T. (2018). Masters of reality: Why did shamanism evolve around the globe? Aeon.Google Scholar
Hills, T. T. (2019a). Neurocognitive free will. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1908), 20190510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, T. T. (2019b). The dark side of information proliferation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(3), 323–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, W. (2019). Black mirror and philosophy: Dark reflections. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
James, W. (1896). The will to believe. The New World, 5, 327–347.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. The Antioch Review, 8(2), 193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pezzulo, G., van der Meer, M. A., Lansink, C. S., & Pennartz, C. M. (2014). Internally generated sequences in learning and executing goal-directed behavior. Trends in Cognitive Science 18, 647–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ranc, N., Moorcroft, P. R., Ossi, F., & Cagnacci, F. (2021). Experimental evidence of memory-based foraging decisions in a large wild mammal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(15), e2014856118, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, D., & Hills, T. (2021). A negotiation in Middlemarch. Negotiation Journal, 37(2), 203–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarbin, T. R. (1997). The poetics of identity. Theory & Psychology, 7(1), 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shiller, R. J. (2020). Narrative economics. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. C. (2007). The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(3), 299–313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolman, E. C. (1948) Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55, 189–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed