What Makes Anthropomorphism Natural: Intuitive Ontology and Cultural Representations
Author(s)
Boyer, Pascal
Abstract
The projection of human attributes onto non-human domains is often explained in anthropology as the consequence of a tendency to animism and anthropomorphism present from the earliest stages of cognitive development. However, the experimental evidence suggests that intuitive ontological principles exclude such projections. So anthropomorphism, though widespread, is counter-intuitive. This apparent paradox can be solved by means of a cognitive theory of cultural representations, in which representations are likely to become stable and widespread if they have both salience and inferential potential. Anthropomorphic projections have inferential potential because they activate a powerful modular capacity for mentalist accounts of behaviour. They are salient because they are counter-intuitive, and therefore attention-grabbing.
