Overview

The Aesthetic Animal answers the ultimate questions of why we adorn ourselves, embellish our things and surroundings, and produce art, music, song dance, and fiction. Humans are aesthetic animals that spend vast amounts of time and resources on seemingly useless aesthetic activities. However, nature would not allow a species to waste precious time and effort on activities completely unrelated to survival, reproduction, and the well-being of that species. Consequently, the aesthetic impulse must have some important biological functions. A number of observations indicate that the aesthetic impulse is an inherent part of human nature, and therefore a primary impulse in its own right with several important functions: The aesthetic impulse may guide us toward what is biologically good for us, and help us choose the right fitness enhancing items in our surroundings. It is a valid individual fitness indicator as well as a unifying social group marker, and aesthetically skilled individuals get more mating possibilities, higher status and more collaborative offers. The book is written in a lively and entertaining tone, with beautiful color illustrations. It covers a wide field of aesthetic behaviors from cave art, graffiti, tattoos, and piercings over fashion, design, music, song, and dance. It presents an original and comprehensive synthesis of the empirical field, synthesizing data from archeology, cave art, anthropology, biology, ethology, behavioral- and evolutionary psychology and neuro-aesthetics. It is a must-read for people interested in biology, psychology, anthropology, architecture, design, fashion, body culture, art, and the evolution of aesthetics.

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9780190927950

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Reviews

"""The Aesthetic Animal is a highly engaging book. In it, H�gh-Olesen describes several opposing theories of aesthetics, then demonstrates how their insights can be integrated in terms of several principles. The personality of the author comes through in a charming and endearing light. A signicant contribution to the literature on aesthetics and a joy to read!"" -- Dennis Krebs, Professor of Psychology Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada ""Solid, versatile, well documented, and a pleasure to read. The author carries his knowledge with lightness."" -- Jacob Wamberg, Professor of Art History, Aarhus University ""H�gh-Olesen argues that aesthetic impulses are human universals grounded in sensory experience. Making use of research in comparative psychology, he gives evidence that human aesthetic impulses originate in capacities humans share with other animals but that humans have a primary adaptive need for art that other animals do not have."" -- Joseph Carroll, Curators' Distinguished Professor, University of Missouri, St. Louis ""Eminently readable, comprehensive, and scienti cally solid, Professor H�gh-Olesen's impressive book provides compelling answers to some of the biggest mysteries in aesthetics and human behavior. I love it!"" -- Mathias Clasen, Institute of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University ""Provides a brief introduction to major areas of inquiry: whether the pursuit of aesthetic stimulation is driven by pleasure or need, how aesthetic pursuit may have been conditioned in prehistory, how aesthetic value is connected to reproductive success, how our proclivity for decoration is rooted in a biological need to signal fitness and social status, and how aesthetic behavior is at the biological, psychological, and neurological foundation of the human species."" -- Choice"

The Aesthetic Animal is a highly engaging book. In it, H gh-Olesen describes several opposing theories of aesthetics, then demonstrates how their insights can be integrated in terms of several principles. The personality of the author comes through in a charming and endearing light. A signicant contribution to the literature on aesthetics and a joy to read! -- Dennis Krebs, Professor of Psychology Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada Solid, versatile, well documented, and a pleasure to read. The author carries his knowledge with lightness. -- Jacob Wamberg, Professor of Art History, Aarhus University H gh-Olesen argues that aesthetic impulses are human universals grounded in sensory experience. Making use of research in comparative psychology, he gives evidence that human aesthetic impulses originate in capacities humans share with other animals but that humans have a primary adaptive need for art that other animals do not have. -- Joseph Carroll, Curators' Distinguished Professor, University of Missouri, St. Louis Eminently readable, comprehensive, and scienti cally solid, Professor H gh-Olesen's impressive book provides compelling answers to some of the biggest mysteries in aesthetics and human behavior. I love it! -- Mathias Clasen, Institute of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University Provides a brief introduction to major areas of inquiry: whether the pursuit of aesthetic stimulation is driven by pleasure or need, how aesthetic pursuit may have been conditioned in prehistory, how aesthetic value is connected to reproductive success, how our proclivity for decoration is rooted in a biological need to signal fitness and social status, and how aesthetic behavior is at the biological, psychological, and neurological foundation of the human species. -- Choice

Author Information

Henrik H�gh-Olesen is Professor of Social & Personality Psychology at the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. He has published 13 academic books and more than 100 articles, published works of fiction and drama, is an expert on behavioral & evolutionary psychology, and has studied humans, apes, and monkeys in naturalistic and experimental settings.

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