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Tracing the evolution of personality cognition in early human civilisations: A computational analysis of the Gilgamesh epic

“…The increasing distinction of internalising versus externalising psychological characteristics in the structural analyses also coincides with previously identified trends of greater individualisation (e.g. recognition of individuals as authors of texts, presence of ownership records and personal deeds mentioned instead of role descriptions; Selz, 2016). While a more in-depth socialhistoricist contextualisation of Babylonian literature is long overdue, we suggest reading the present results as tantalising evidence that the growing complexity of the authors' social and political environment may be associated with personality concepts that gradually start to resemble those found in modern-day societies; in other words, that social structure leads to a shaping of cognition in the form of implicit personality models.…”

“…Another theme that is meaningful within the historical context is the discussion of markers and actions that imply a transition from barbarian status to human civilised life. These have been central themes in historical texts on Sumerian and Akkadian culture (Selz, 2016) and our findings suggest that these can also be traced in the implicit personality concepts when describing characters in this epic.…”