Food, foragers, and folklore: the role of narrative in human subsistence

Sugiyama, Michelle Scalise

doi:10.1016/s1090-5138(01)00063-0

Cited by 160 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Storytelling is a highly conspicuous cross-cultural universal (D. E. Brown, 1991), and a variety of theories propose that it has played a key role in human evolution (B. Boyd, 2009;Carroll, 2006;Coe et al, 2006;Davies, 2012;Gottschall, 2012;Scalise Sugiyama, 2001;Wiessner, 2014). The importance of cultural evolutionary processes is underscored by the fact that the folktales, myths and legends of nearby groups tend to be more alike than those of groups separated by large distances.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups

Ross

Atkinson

2016

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups

Ross

Atkinson

2016

Evolution and Human Behavior

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“…This information can be used by receivers to increase their personal experience record. Receivers can vicariously learn from others' successes and errors, which is a substantial benefit given that learning solely from personal experiences can often be life-threatening (see e.g., Bandura 1977;Carroll 1999Carroll , 2002Pinker 1995;Scalise-Sugiyama 1996, 2001Williams 1966).…”

Section: Gossip and Reputationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If people rely solely on their own, private life experiences in these situations, they risk being susceptible to costs through the misallocation of time, energy, and resources. Other researchers (Scalise-Sugiyama 1996, 2001Williams 1966) have already suggested that the exchange of information about the strategies and reputations of people, what we call reputation gossip, can reduce these costs. We take this classification of gossip one step further, and define potential mates reputation gossip as information about individuals' reputation of being a good or bad romantic partner for short-term or long-term goals.…”

Section: Romantic Relations Reputations and Gossipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Let’s Talk About Sex: A Study on the Recall of Gossip About Potential Mates and Sexual Rivals

2007

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Although there is an abundance of gossip research, little is known about the impact of individuals’ characteristics and their ability to recall gossip’s content. We concentrated on gossip related to mating reputation, and investigated the effects of individuals’ sex and relationship status when they are the subjects and receivers of such gossip. We presented 84 students with gossip-like stories, manipulated for content, and then provided a surprise recall test. We found that cues of attractiveness were recalled more for female characters, whereas cues of wealth status were recalled more for male characters. Gender differences in participants’ recall occurred for gossip about same-sex people who may represent rivals, but not for gossip about other-sex people who may represent potential mates. The relationship status of the subjects and receivers did not affect the recall rates. We discuss these findings within the conceptual framework offered by evolutionary psychology

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“…Two genres that that recur across forager oral tradition appear to be dedicated to transmitting information about animals and topography, respectively. Etiological tales explain how animals acquired their distinctive markings or characteristics and, in so doing, describe traits that may be used to identify them from a distance and/or predict their behavior (Scalise Sugiyama, 2001). For example, a Koyukon story references the short-eared owl's habit of making repeated dives as it flies: “In the Distant Time, the short-eared owl once dropped a birchbark basket filled with fish and had to dive again and again to retrieve it” (Nelson, 1983, p. 108).…”

Section: Oral Storytelling Transmits Generalizable Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Oral Storytelling as Evidence of Pedagogy in Forager Societies

Sugiyama

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Teaching is reportedly rare in hunter-gatherer societies, raising the question of whether it is a species-typical trait in humans. A problem with past studies is that they tend to conceptualize teaching in terms of Western pedagogical practices. In contrast, this study proceeds from the premise that teaching requires the ostensive manifestation of generalizable knowledge: the teacher must signal intent to share information, indicate the intended recipient, and transmit knowledge that is applicable beyond the present context. Certain features of human communication appear to be ostensive in function (e.g., eye contact, pointing, contingency, prosodic variation), and collectively serve as “natural pedagogy.” Tellingly, oral storytelling in forager societies typically employs these and other ostensive behaviors, and is widely reported to be an important source of generalizable ecological and social knowledge. Despite this, oral storytelling has been conspicuously overlooked in studies of teaching in preliterate societies. Accordingly, this study presents evidence that oral storytelling involves the use of ostension and the transmission of generic knowledge, thereby meeting the criteria of pedagogy.

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Food, foragers, and folklore: the role of narrative in human subsistence

Cited by 160 publications

References 28 publications

Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups

Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups

Let’s Talk About Sex: A Study on the Recall of Gossip About Potential Mates and Sexual Rivals

Oral Storytelling as Evidence of Pedagogy in Forager Societies

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