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Chapter 5: Architectural Aesthetics, Emotions And Cultural Evolution
Introduction
The behavioral repertoire of humans – unlike that of most nonhuman animals – relies heavily on social
learning (Henrich & McElreath, 2003), which has conferred considerable adaptive advantages. Specifically,
the capacity to accumulate and retain locally adaptive cultural innovations has enabled humans to spread
around the globe and occupy a larger range than any other terrestrial vertebrate (Boyd, Richerson &
Henrich 2011). Apart from culturally adapting to new environments, niche construction theory captures
the fact that humans also actively modify their environment, which in turn feeds back on cultural and
genetic evolution (Odling-Smee, 2010). In humans, as in many other animals, architecture (i.e., structures
built mainly for the purposes of providing a home and for intraspecific communication) is an important
part of that modified selective environment (Hansell, 2005; Odling-Smee & Turner, 2012).
Given the feedback between genes, culture and constructed environments and considering the fact that
social learning is adaptive in humans, in this chapter we aim to explore how human architecture might
have evolved to support – or even to galvanize – social learning. More specifically we will zoom in on one
general kind of architecture, i.e., religious monumental architecture, and try to shed light on how the
specific awe-like emotions that can be elicited by such architecture might have impacted cultural
evolution. We will distinguish between two pathways through which awe-evoking religious monumental
architecture (RMA) may have enhanced cultural transmission between individuals. First, it may have
stimulated cognitive performance underlying learning, leading to – for example – enhanced memory, and
in so doing, it supported the reception and retention of cultural variants. Second, it may have provided a
social background against which social learning could occur. Specifically, we propose that awe-evoking
RMA may have caused individuals to become more prosocially oriented towards others (which increased
opportunities for social learning) as well as to have contributed to establishing a learning relationship
between religious leaders and commoners.
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