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Has mental time travel really affected human culture?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2007

Alex Mesoudi
Alex Mesoudi
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, United Kingdom. am786@cam.ac.ukhttp://amesoudi.googiepages.com
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Abstract

Suddendorf & Corballis (S&C) claim that mental time travel has significantly affected human cultural change. This echoes a common criticism of theories of Darwinian cultural evolution: that, whereas evolution is blind, culture is directed by people who can foresee and plan for future events. Here I argue that such a claim is premature, and more rigorous tests of S&C's claim are needed.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 326 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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