The Picasso Effect

Exercise

Show a number of pictures or slides of photos from nature. Use clouds, waves, driftwood, seaweed, the human body, sand dunes etc. Ask students to write down what shapes they can see in these images. Ask them to explain what they see. Students could demonstrate the shapes by placing a blank overhead transparency over the printed one and with a marker indicate the shape they see.

Reading

"It seems strange to me that someone thought of making marble statues. I understand how you could see something in the root of a tree, a crack in the wall, in an eroded stone or pebble. But marble? It comes off in blocks and doesn't evoke any image. It does not inspire. How could Michelangelo have seen his David in a block of marble? Man began to make images only because he discovered them nearly formed around him, already within reach. He saw them in a bone, in the bumps of a cave, in a piece of wood. One form suggested a woman to him, another a buffalo, still another the head of a monster."

(An excerpt from Conversations with Picasso by Brassaï, Wednesday 20 October 1943)


The artist, according to Picasso, is able to see or project himself and his world in or onto Nature. This ability is the stimulation to draw for Picasso. Edward Wilson argues that this is an innate behaviour in humans and he classes it as an epigenetic rule (See Ariadne's Thread: Epigenetic rules - some clarification).

We could be so bold as to extend drawing to cover all forms of artistic representation including literature, as we have done with sympathetic magic and totemism of prehistoric cave drawings (see Primitive Art). Occasionally, as was found in the case of Chauvet, Upper paleolithic humans used and/or were inspired by the texture of the cave wall to paint and draw wild animals. That is, the natural marking on the walls reminded them of the bodies of animals; the drawings completed the images that they had formed in their minds. In other words the natural markings and what the artist sees in them could be regarded as a projection of an abstraction of the animal formed in the artist's mind (see The Law of Abstraction).

In analysing art we may be able to see the abstractions that inspired them, and dissect them out. In the next post we will study a scene from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet : Act I Sc.5 The Sonnet

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Nature, Art & Language

Answers - Super-normal stimuli

Super-normal stimuli are frequent in many species. The silver-washed fritillary butterfly males are sexually attracted to rotating brown striped cylinders more so than the fluttering wings of their own females. The oystercatcher will abandon its own egg for a supernormal dummy, and the herring gull chicks prefer a red pencil to their own mother’s beak. In humans caucasian and Japanese men are attracted to female faces that are extremely delicate and rare.

The reason for these behaviours is unclear, but it is generally thought that super-normal stimuli indicate a direction in which evolution could proceed. For example a large egg may suggest health and it is better for the oystercatcher to invest energy in incubating it rather than a smaller one that is less likely to hatch. Without such behavioural tendencies evolution would be influenced only by environmental changes, but this shows that animals are ready to select for themselves genetic variation within their own species.

Why then is delicacy such a compelling feature in women? According to Wilson it is likely to be associated with a signal that suggests youth and virginity, both of which are important consideration in selecting a mate for the production of offspring.

Nature, Art & Language

Super-normal stimuli

Work in groups. Each group will consider one of the descriptions of animal and human behavior presented below. Your task is to try to explain them as best you can. Once you have done this conduct a class seminar in which you summarize your group's findings and try to answer the discussion question below.


1) The oystercatcher will abandon its own egg when presented with a super-normal plastic model many times the natural size, an egg it could not possibly have laid.


2) The silver-washed fritillary butterfly males are more sexually attracted to rotating brown and black striped cylinders than the fluttering wings of their own females.

3) Herring gull chicks instinctively peck at the red spot located at the base of their parent's beak. This stimulates the adult bird to regurgitate partially digested food into the mouths of their chicks. However, if the young are presented with a red pencil and a model of its parent's head and beak, it will prefer the pencil.

4) Composite photos of the faces of women of a similar age blended together produces a face that most men find attractive. This has led to the conclusion that what we consider to be a beautiful face is an average of many faces. Research on Japanese and Caucasian women in the last decade has revealed that these composite faces can be enhanced to make them even more attractive. This is accomplished by increasing the size of the lips and eyes, raising the cheeks and narrowing the chin, and finally by reducing the distance between the mouth and the chin, and the chin and the nose. The proportion of young women who have these very delicate features are extremely rare (Wilson, 1997 p. 256).


Question for discussion

Why are animals and humans attracted to models that do not exist in reality or that are very infrequent?

Answers

Answers to E.O.Wilson's 'Creation'

Reading 1

1) According to Wilson human nature is "...the heritary rules of mental development...manifested as biases in the way our senses perceive the world."
These are also referred to by the author in other writings (see Wilson, 1997) as 'epigenetic rules'.

2) These rules "...generate options....". This means that we are not compelled to select one or the other. The choice may be determined rationally by the situation in which it occurs, even though that there may be an irrational or emotional bias towards one option.

3) An example of a bias could be a reponse to a certain graphic design. We will all respond , though the responses will be individual.


4) An aversion is triggered by a negative experience. The aversion could not have been formed without an innate predisposition for it; that is, an epigenetic rule or bias.

5) Even though Wilson is an entomologist he has an irrational fear of spiders.

6) People haven't developed ‘aversions’ to knives and guns according to Wilson because there has been sufficient time for us develop one. Aversions require, it seems, the presence of an epigenetic rule which are derived through the processes of natural selection.

7) ‘Hardwiring’ is when behaviour is written into genes; that is it is innate and instinctive.


Reading 2

Pre-reading task -Landscape description and drawing

This lesson was carried out on two classes of approximately twenty students in each. All students produced very similar results and very consistent with the savanna hypothesis. The seven drawing presented above were chosen for their aesthetic appeal and their representativeness.

Notice that Zaharina's drawing (bottom) includes dophins -indicating that the sea, which her house overlooks, is 'fruitful' or productive. Sheryne's drawing (second from the bottom) is very close to the predicted landscape, notably the view from her terrace. Jules' drawing (third from the top) though very elegant shows less of the characteristics of the others; his house is rather exposed but surrounded by farmland and includes copses.

Gist Questions

The ‘savanna hypothesis’ claims that people prefer and create savanna like landscapes because they have a mental template for it. That is, we are predisposed to produce this landscape because it, in a sense, reminds us of the African landscape in which we evolved.

In the extract from Lawrence of Arabia, Prince Feisel suggests Lawrence is somewhat abnormal for loving the desert, as even the people that live there do not. For this reason Feisel is suspicious of both the Lawrence and the English.

Comprehension Questions

1. In choosing a place to locate a home, what three environmental characteristics do people most prefer? (paragraph 1)
a) To live on a site from which we can look down and out.
b) To have a parkland with scattered individual and groups of trees..
c)To be close to a body of water.

2. What should be behind the house? (paragraph 2)
The habitation should be a "retreat", having a solid structure at the back such as a cliff.

3. What kinds of trees and animals do people like to see as they overlook the landscape in front of their house? (paragraph 2)
To have a view of "fruitful terrain" that includes domestic and wild animals

4. Why did our ancestors like small isolated clusters of trees? (paragraph 3)
The trees would be a place to hide from enemies and or to be a place conceal hunters when hunting.


5. What kind of trees are most often preferred by people and the author of the text?
People prefer trees with "...low horizontal branches with divided leaves...". The Japanese maple has these characteristics. The text does not explain why these characteristics are preferred, though it is probably connected to the 'savanna hypothesis'. We could surmise that they have quality of allowing one to climb into them easily due to their low branches and conceal oneself, while permitting the individual to see through the foliage owing to their open leaves.


6.. What was the function of a river or lake for our forebears from Africa? (paragraph 3)
The water body would serve as a demarcation of territory.

7. What do you think ‘genetic human nature’ is? (paragraph 4)
This is human behavior that is determined by genes.

8. Was Gerard Piel a supporter of this notion? Explain your answer.
No he was 'disinclined' to accept it, which means he did not favor the hypothesis.

9. What did E.O.Wilson do on the balcony of Piel’s apartment?

He looked down for an extended moment (he gazed) at the view.

10.. Why did he especially enjoy his little walk onto the balcony?
Because the setting of Piel's apartment had all the characteristics of the ideal human habitation consistent with the savanna hypothesis.

11. Do you agree with the savanna hypothesis? Explain.



Summary: Epigenetic Rules & Human Nature

Innate tendencies described as bias, predispositions are collectively referred to as 'epigenetic rules'. A full collections of these would constitute a description of human nature. The savanna hypothesis, the predisposition to develop aversions to snakes and spiders, as well as biases towards certain shapes or colours are just some examples. In the next lesson we will explore others. Click on the link below to find out more:

Supernormal stimuli and the Picasso Effect (in preparation)



References

Wilson, E.O.(1997) Consilience: The unity of knowledge. Abacus. UK.
________ (2006) The Creation: An appeal to save life on earth. Norton. NY

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An Introduction to Epigenetic Rules - The Savanah Hypothesis

Nature, Art & Language

Human Nature and The Savanna Hypothesis

Introduction

In this lesson we will look at human nature using the writings of ecologist Edward O. Wilson. You will read two extracts from his book The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth.
 

Pre-reading task
 
Phobias

• Read the following extract from the Peanuts comic strip where Lucy is trying to analyze Charlie Brown. The cartoon version of the extract can also be found online at this link from min 0:48-1:25: A Charlie Brown Christmas - Clip

Lucy Van Pelt: Are you afraid of responsibility? If you are, then you have hypengyophobia.
Charlie Brown: I don’t think that’s quite it.
Lucy Van Pelt: How about cats? If you’re afraid of cats, you have ailurophasia.
Charlie Brown: Well, sort of, but I’m not sure.
Lucy Van Pelt: Are you afraid of staircases? If you are, then you have climacaphobia. Maybe you have thalassophobia. This is fear of the ocean, or gephyrobia, which is the fear of crossing bridges. Or maybe you have pantophobia. Do you think you have pantophobia?
Charlie Brown: What’s pantophobia?
Lucy Van Pelt: The fear of everything.
Charlie Brown: THAT’S IT!

from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Shultz

Now, tell your partner what kind of irrational fears or phobias you have.

Once you have done that say where you think they come from.

Do you think there are phobias that all people share? Explain your answer.

Reading 1.
Before you start reading the extract below, go through the Gist and Comprehension Questions first; this will give you an idea of what answers to look for.
Gist Question
How does E.O.Wilson define human nature?

Comprehension Questions

Paragraph 1

The ‘developmental rules’ of human nature are not absolute – explain.

Paragraph 2

3) Give one an example of a ‘bias’.

Paragraph 3

4) What triggers aversions?
5) Wilson has an irrational fear of ____________.

Paragraph 4

6) Why haven’t people developed 'aversions' to knives and guns?
7) What is ‘hard-wiring' in this context?

***

What is Human Nature?

What precisely, then, is human nature? That is one of the great questions of both science and philosophy. It is not the cultural universals, such as incest taboos, rites of passage, and creqation myths. Those are the products of human nature. Rather, human nature is the hereditary rules of mental development. The rules are expressed in molecular pathways that create cells and tissue, particularly those of the sensory nervous system. The rules are also prescribed in the cells and tissue that generate mind and behvavior. They are manifested as biases in the way our senses perceive the world. They appear as the properties of language and symbolic coding by which we represent the world. The developmental rules are not absolute. Instead, they generate the options we open to ourselves. They render some choices more pleasing than others: music yes, the crying of a baby no.

The developmental rules are in an early stage of exploration by psychologists and biologists. Even so, the few that are known range over diverse categories of behavior and culture. They affect how we clarify colors in accordance with the innate of cell reception and transmission within the retina. They bias our aesthetic response to visual design according elementary abstract shape and degree of complexity.

In a wholly different realm, developmental rules determine the readiness by which we acquire aversions and phobias. People come most quickly to fear objects that were dangerous to prehistoric people, including snakes, spiders, heights, closed space, and other ancient perils of humankind. The trigger that creates one of deep aversions is often a single frightening experience. To be startled by a sudden writhing of an object on the ground can imprint the mind against snakes. I escaped that phobia somehow. In fact, I have always enjoyed catching and handling snakes, a taste learned as a boy naturalist. On the other hand, I have a mild and unshakable arachnophobia, acquired during an accidental entanglement with the web of a large orb-weaving spider when I was a boy of eight years old. I enjoy exploring caves - no claustrophobia there – but because of a clumsy anesthesia during an operation when I was a small boy, I cringe at even the thought of my face being covered while my arms are pinned. In general terms, I'm typical. Every person has his own imprinting experience and profile of such archaic aversions. Only a lucky few lack them completely.

In sharp contrast to their inborn sensitivity to ancient perils people are far less prone to acquire fear of knives, guns, automobiles, electric outlets, and other dangerous objects of everyday modern life. The reason for the difference, scientists believe, is insufficient time for the evolving species to hard wire reactions in the brain to these newer threats.

Wilson, E.O.(2006) The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth pp. 65-66

***

Reading 2.

Pre-reading task

1a. Without talking to your classmates think about what your ideal landscape is. The place where you would feel most content. In that area where would you place your most preferred type of habitation. Think about what is in front of it and what is behind it?

1b. Now sketch your ideal landscape with your ideal habitation. Once you have done that take an overhead projector transparency and pen and trace the essential lines of your drawing onto it. Label all the land forms and features you have included. Make sure your picture is enclosed in a frame and it has a key which will serve as a vocabulary list. When you have finished give a 1 minute presentation to the class describing it.

Before you start reading the extract below, go through the Gist and Comprehension Questions first, this will give you an idea of what answers to look for.

Gist Question

Read the following quote from the film Lawrence of Arabia and say what it has got to do with the ‘savanna hypothesis’.

PRINCE FEISAL:You are an Englishman. Are you not loyal to England?

LAWRENCE: To England and to other things.
PRINCE FEISAL: To England and Arabia both? And is that possible? I think you are another of these desert-Ioving English. .. Doughty, Stanhope...Gordon of Khartoum. No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees. There is nothing in the desert. And no man needs nothing.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)- directed by David Lean
You can watch this scene on Youtube, click on the following link:
No Arab Loves the Desert



Comprehension Questions

1. In choosing a place to locate a home, what three environmental characteristics do people most prefer? (paragraph 1)
2. What should be behind the house? (paragraph 2)
3. What kinds of trees and animals do people like to see as they overlook the landscape in front of their house? (paragraph 2)
4. Why did our ancestors like small isolated clusters of trees? (paragraph 3)
5. What kind of trees are most often preferred by people and the author of the text?
6. What was the function of a river or lake for our forebears from Africa? (paragraph 3)
7. What do you think ‘genetic human nature is? (paragraph 4)
8. Was Gerard Piel a supporter of this notion? Explain your answer.
9. What did E.O.Wilson do on the balcony of Piel’s apartment?
10. Why did he especially enjoy his little walk onto the balcony?
11. Do you agree with the savanna hypothesis? Explain.

2. The Savanna Hypothesis

…Researchers have found that when people of different cultures, including those of North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, are given freedom to select the setting of their homes and work places, they prefer an environment that combines three features. They wish to live on a height looking down and out, to scan a parkland with scattered trees and copses spread before them, closer in appearance to a savanna than either a grassland or a closed forest, and to be near a body of water, such as a lake, river, or sea. Even if all these elements are purely aesthetic and not functional, as in vacation homes, people who have the means will pay a very high price to obtain them.
There is more. Subjects in choice tests prefer their habitation to be a retreat, with a wall, cliff, or something else solid to the rear. They want a view of fruitful terrain in front of the retreat. They like large animals scattered thereabout, either wild or domestic. Finally, they favor trees with low horizontal branches and divided leaves. It is probably not a coincidence that some people, I among them, consider the Japanese Maple the world’s most beautiful tree.
These quirks of human nature do not prove but are at least consistent with the savanna hypothesis of human evolution. Supported by considerable evidence from fossil record, this interpretation holds that human beings today still choose the habitats resembling those in which our species evolved in Africa during millions of years of prehistory. The distant forebears wished to be hidden in copses looking out over a savanna or transitional woodland, scanning the terrain for prey to stalk, fallen animals to scavenge, edible plants to gather, and enemies to avoid. A body of water nearby served as a territorial boundary and an added source of food.
By and large, people are keenly aware of their own innate preferences but have given little or no thought to why they and others feel the same way. I once dined at the house of the late Gerard Piel, a distinguished writer, publisher, and the founder of Scientific American. He was, I knew, disinclined to accept the idea of a genetic human nature. So it gave me considerable pleasure to stroll out with him on to the balcony of his penthouse apartment, which was lined with potted shrubs, and gaze down with him more than a dozen stories to the woodland, savanna, and reservoir lake of Central park. I can only imagine how much that view added to the commercial value of the apartment – thanks to choices made by our long-ago African ancestors.
Wilson, E.O.(2006) The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth pp. 66-67

***

Answers

• Listening follow-up

To hear Edward Wilson talking about about Biophilia and the Savanna Hypothesis go to the link below and listen from minute 32 to 35:4
Edward Wilson discussing biophilia and the savanna hypothesis. .




Further reading

Dutton, Denis (2009) The Art Instinct:Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution. Chapter 1 Landscape and Longing, pp 13-28. Bloomsberry Press. New York. 282 p.

Nature, Art & Language

Please feel free to use and share these lessons.  

© All Copyright, 2007, (revised 2019) Ray Genet

Some answers to the ‘Memes’ questions

Contents

1. Chapter 11, The Selfish Gene


2. Who is Susan Blackmore?

Chapter 11, The Selfish Gene


1. Give the definition of a ‘meme’

A meme is a unit of cultural transmission, a unit of imitation: a painting, a tune, poem, an idea, an invention, a concept that is copied or imitated by the brain and transmitted to other brains. It is analogous to a gene. It was coined by biologist Richard Dawkins and comes from the word ‘mimeme’ that has Greek origin.


2. Give some examples of memes but focus on the ideas associated with religion

The God meme has great psychological appeal. It provides answers to troubling questions about life and death.

3. What is a Saddleback and what has it got to do with memes?

The saddleback is an endemic New Zealand bird. It is exceptional because unlike most birds it is born without an instinctive knowledge of its song. It must learn it from other saddlebacks through imitation. Notably, they will only copy the song of its own species.

The example is revealing as the song of the saddleback is analogous to human culture and the bird to us. That is, we absorb the elements of culture that are ‘most human,’ in other words, that which is most psychologically appealing to us. What has psychological appeal is a meme.

4. What do memes and genes have in common? Answer this using the following terms from the text: longevity, fecundity and copying fidelity.

For genes, longevity is not as important as fecundity. It is necessary for a gene to last as long as the body that carries it exists, so that it can be passed on. Fecundity, or its ability to copy itself, is more important.

Genes copy themselves very well, that is there is a high level of copying fidelity, but occasionally there are errors or mutations. Memes replicate through willful or involuntary imitation. For example a catchy tune is not willfully memorized, it sticks in the brain due to its psychological appeal. Other memes are copied through study and work owing to their appeal of having some survival value. Exact copies of memes are not achieved all the time. Memes also blend with other memes. For example, Christianity was blended with pagan beliefs to heighten its appeal.

5. Explain the analogy between the human brain and computers.

There is competition for memory space. The human brain has a limited capacity. If a meme is to dominate it must compete with other memes. The ideas in your English course are competing against the ideas in your telecommunication classes. Advertising tricks your brain into paying attention to the commercial message. Computer viruses steal computer space.


6. What is a co-adapted meme-complex?

Before we answer that question you need to know what a co-adapted gene-complex is. Mimicry in butterflies is caused by a large number of genes working together. They work so well together that they might as well be considered the same gene. Carnivores require sharp teeth, forward facing eyes, appropriate digestive systems to deal with meat and so on. All these characteristics work together and are largely inseparable, so much so it is difficult to know which one came first.
A co-adapted meme-complex is analogous to the co-adapted gene complex. That is, one meme assists the survival of other memes, just as the gene for sharp teeth is supported by an appropriate digestive system etc. The God meme is a good example.

The church, its architecture, rituals, laws, art, writings and so on all support one another other and all work to promote and to protect the central God meme. Dawkins gives the examples of hell, blind faith and celibacy as other supports to this meme complex.


7. How can we achieve immortality through memes?

Basically, if you develop a great idea, or work of art that has enduring psychological appeal, your idea and your name will be disseminated and remembered. In this way you will live on in the brains of people long after your death, just as Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Bach, Mozart do, and they will go living until humanity ceases to exist.

This is where Dawkins’ idea, or at least this aspect of it, is not very original. In fact, it appears in The Symposium by Plato (427 -347 BC). It occurs in a discussion between Socrates and Diotima; a woman who taught him the ways of love. Read the extract for yourself.

"Who, when he thinks of Homer and Hesiod and other great poets, would not rather have their children than ordinary human ones? Who would not emulate them in the creation of children such as theirs, which have preserved their memory and given them everlasting glory? Or who would not have such children as Lycurgus left behind him to be the saviors, not only of Lacedaemon, but of Hellas, as one may say? There is Solon, too, who is the revered father of Athenian laws; and many others there are in many other places, both among Hellenes and barbarians, who have given to the world many noble works, and have been the parents of virtue of every kind; and many temples have been raised in their honor for the sake of children such as theirs; which were never raised in honor of any one, for the sake of his mortal children."


2. Who is Susan Blackmore?

a) She realized that there was no supernatural. That each time she tried to prove its existence empirically the experiments failed to show anything at all.

She used to be a parapyschologist, and she thought that this was the best way to understand the mind. Going against the advice of her lecturers she studied paranormal phenomenon in ernest. After five years she was coming to believe that "there was nothing in it"; in other words that it may not exist. By this time she was Reader in Psychology at Bristol University and had become an expert in the outer-body-experience. She continued to work on the paranormal still trying to find empirical evidence for its existence for another 25 years. After so much work she became absolutely convinced that that paranormal did not exist, and decided to abandon it totally.

b) By this time she had discovered that what she was really interested in 'consciousness'. She has written three books on the subject including a textbook. In 2001 she abandoned her university position to become a freelance writer and broadcaster.

c) She got interested in memes while ill and immobilized in bed. She was able to read and think. She re-read Richard Dawkins' 'The Selfish Gene' and became convinced that the idea of memes as the second replicator was correct.

d) Blackmore tries to explain why humans have such big brains through 'memetic drive'. Good ideas, or memes, enhanced the survival of primitive humans. An individual that creates a solution to a survival problem will survive. Others will also but only if they can remember and imitate this solution. Imitation and memory requires certain brain capacity, and the larger the capacity available the more things that can be learned and hence the greatrer chances of survival. Blackmore (2000) argues that once creativity emerged there was an advantage in being able to learn and imitate good ideas; basically the bigger the brain the more survival ideas that could be remembered and the greater chance the individual had for survival.

This idea that memes led to big brain is humans relates to Blackmore's notion of Memetic Drive. Simple put, a successful meme could lead to genetic success (Blackmore, 1999). That is, if a meme comes about that enhances the survival of only those who can imitate it, then those that cannot will have reduced chances of survival. In this way there will be a concentration of genetically determined abilities driven by the appearence of the meme.

Daniel Dennett on his book Breaking the Spell - Relgion as a natural phenomenon

a) What is the core part of his definition of religion?

"Social systems whose participants vow beleif in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought."

b) How did the emergence of language relate to the development of religion. Talk about the "orientation reaction".

The "orientation reaction" is the act of being started by something and trying to figure anexplanation. Dennett claims that we tend to make an agent of these things and in general we do this for everything we we don't understand.

c) What is Dennett's explanation for the origin of religion. Listen to his account of the "the talking tree"

to come..

d) What was the role of writing in helping religion to develop?

to come..

References

Blackmore, S (1999) The Meme Machine. Oxford University Press.

Blackmore, S (2000) The Power of Memes. Scientific American, Vol 283 No 4, pp 52-61