Evolved Responses to Landscapes

Abstract

Evolutionary approaches to aesthetics are based on the postulate that emotional responses, because they are such powerful motivators of human behavior, could not have evolved unless the behavior they evoked contributed positively, on average, to survival and reproductive success. This is why sugar is sweet and sexual activity is fun. Those of our ancestors who found consuming carbohydrates and engaging in inter course enjoyable left more surviving descendants than those individuals who were not motivated to engage in those behaviors. Thus, an evolutionary biologist studies the actions evoked by emotional states to determine why those emotions had survival value. This is not to say that the behaviors stimulated by those emotions are always useful. Curiosity does, so we are told, sometimes kill cats. Nonetheless we believe that cats lacking curiosity fail to learn enough about their environments to function in them as well as their more curious brethren, even though being curious sometimes has unfortunate consequences.