{"title":"Uncertainty reduction as an alternative explanation of historical myths.","authors":"David J Grüning, Joachim I Krueger","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000736","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000736","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We agree with Sijilmassi et al. that historical myths are a tool for coalition recruitment. We argue, however, that a close fit between an evolved entity and an identified function does not imply that the latter is the critical evolutionary trigger. We also propose an alternative individual-centric explanation: Historical myths reduce uncertainty by providing cognitive and behavioral guidance.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e180"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond our \"ancient roots\": Toward a broader understanding of the motivational power of societal meta-narratives.","authors":"Laura Akers","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000827","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The \"historical myths\" addressed in the target article are but one type of societal meta-narrative, a cognitive framework for understanding the story of one's group: Its origins, purpose, turning points, threats and opportunities, key relationships, and the appropriate affect for group members. Engagement with the broader literature on meta-narratives, including political and sacred myths, and on group entitativity is recommended.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e172"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coalitional psychology and the evolution of nationalistic cultures.","authors":"Amine Sijilmassi, Lou Safra, Nicolas Baumard","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X2400133X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X2400133X","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The commentaries addressed various aspects of our account of historical myths. We respond by clarifying the evolutionary theory of coalitional psychology that underlies our claims (R1). This addresses concerns about the role of fitness interdependence in large groups (R2), cultural transmission processes (R3), alternative routes to nation-building (R4) and the role of proximal mechanisms (R5). Finally, we evaluate alternative theories (R6) and discuss directions for future research (R7).</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e197"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Myth as model: Group-level interpretive frameworks.","authors":"Cody Moser","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000724","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>I argue that while recruitment might explain some of the design features of historical myths, origin myths in general more importantly provide shared narrative frameworks for aligning and coordinating members of a group. Furthermore, by providing in-group members with shared frameworks for interfacing with the world, the contents of myths likely facilitate the selection of belief systems at the group-level.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e185"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mythos in the light of evolution.","authors":"Alexandra Maryanski, Jonathan H Turner","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000645","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This commentary adds elements of analysis from the new evolutionary sociology that might help to support the mythologic hypothesis. It discusses the likelihood of a more generalized processer rather than exactly evolved psychological mechanisms, the consequences of bottlenecks, and the importance of utilizing molecular, fossil, and primate data in the authors' research program.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e184"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collective selfhood as a psychically necessary illusion.","authors":"Peter Fonagy, Chloe Campbell","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000633","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drawing on developmental psychopathology and thinking about the we-mode of social cognition, we propose that historical myths - be they on the scale of the family, the nation, or an ethnic group - are an expression and function of our need to join with other minds. As such, historical myths are one cognitive technology used to facilitate social learning, the transmission of culture and the relational mentalizing that underpins social and emotional functioning.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e178"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Myths of trauma and myths of cooperation: Diverse consequences of history for societal cohesion.","authors":"Michał Bilewicz, Aleksandra Bilewicz","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000591","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We propose that historical myths fall into two distinctive categories: Traumatic and cooperative. Traumatic myths, highlighting collective suffering, can undermine trust and foster conspiracy theories, whereas cooperative myths, emphasizing collective action, enhance group cohesion and within-group coalition building. Psychological and sociological evidence supports these divergent impacts of historical myths both in nations and social movements.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e174"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Trojan horse of historical myths: Emotion-driven narratives as a strategy for coalitional recruitment.","authors":"Petra Pelletier, Nicolas Fay","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000694","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000694","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sijilmassi et al. offer a cognitive account of historical myths, which they present as a cognitive technology designed to recruit coalitional support. We argue this account is incomplete, and that a comprehensive explanation of historical myths must include a central role for human emotions. In particular, emotion-driven narratives have the capacity to recruit coalitional support, which is critical to large-scale human cooperation and social cohesion.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e187"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"We are one people\": Group myths also draw cues from self-concept formation.","authors":"Eli Elster, Luke Glowacki","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X24000803","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sijilmassi et al. suggest that group myths explaining the shared history of a people succeed and propagate by leveraging cognitive cues from fitness interdependence. We offer an alternative and mutually compatible account rooting the success of group myths in cues from a different cognitive domain: The development of self-concepts.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e177"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Historical myths as commitment devices.","authors":"Stefaan Blancke","doi":"10.1017/S0140525X24000712","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0140525X24000712","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sijilmassi et al. claim that historical myths are technologies of recruitment that mimic cues of fitness interdependence. Paradoxically, they also claim that people are vigilant and that these myths might not and do not have to convince others, which raises questions about how these myths become culturally successful. Thinking about historical myths as commitment devices helps overcome this paradox.</p>","PeriodicalId":8698,"journal":{"name":"Behavioral and Brain Sciences","volume":"47 ","pages":"e175"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142913649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}