The Bad Breaks of Walter White: An Evolutionary Approach to the Fictional Antihero

Kjeldgaard‐Christiansen, Jens

doi:10.26613/esic.1.1.19

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Evolutionary theories of fiction suggest that one of its main functions is to refine social intelligence and foster group cohesion and cooperation (Boyd, 2018; Flesch, 2007). Accordingly, fiction generally presents a strongly polarized view of the slow–fast life history spectrum (although morally ambiguous characters are not uncommon and provide useful opportunities for playing out moral conflicts, see Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, 2017). For example, protagonists and antagonists display fairly stable differences in personality profiles, consistent with the slow–fast life history distinction.…”

Section: Life History Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“Such an alternative as this had not occurred to her”: The transformation of Jane Austen’s Emma as understood from an evolutionary perspective.

Grant¹,

Kruger²

2023

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Published in 1815, Jane Austen’s Emma is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed English novels, but it features one of the least likeable of Austen’s heroines. At the beginning of the story, Emma Woodhouse is perceived by many readers in antagonistic terms but then undergoes a significant change. Using short character descriptions, we investigate the psychological underpinnings of Emma’s narrative journey from an evolutionary point of view. Our study reveals that Emma’s transformation involves changes in all of the Big Five personality dimensions: In the course of the novel, Emma’s Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience increase, while her Extraversion and Neuroticism decrease. Emma also shifts in characteristics associated with reproductive strategies and relationship preferences: Study participants perceive the transformed Emma as more interested in and attractive for long-term relationships. These characteristics are associated with life history variations by modern readers, though they could have been manifested differently behaviorally in Austen's time, given the constraints on women in Austen’s cultural context. Taken together, these changes suggest a shift from a faster to a slower life history strategy and it is this shift that confirms Emma’s protagonistic status. We advocate for the ecological validity of our method, which is commonly used in psychological studies but rarely used in literary studies.

show abstract

Section: Life History Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“Such an alternative as this had not occurred to her”: The transformation of Jane Austen’s Emma as understood from an evolutionary perspective.

Grant¹,

Kruger²

2023

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fiction can be a rich source of information for social scientists, as it yields information about both the mind of the author and the reader (Carroll, 2018). Readers become emotionally invested in the characters, as protagonists and antagonists are typically written in a way to stir empathy or disdain, respectively (Johnson, Carroll, Gottschall, & Kruger, 2008; Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, 2017).…”

Section: The Function Of Fictional Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nuanced psychology of The Handmaid’s Tale: Commentary on power, feminism, and the patriarchy from four feminist evolutionary psychologists.

Calvi

Rankin

Clauss

et al. 2020

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dystopian novels such as The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood, 1985) illuminate real-world human sociopolitical dynamics that underscore the processes of sexual and reproductive control at both the systemic and individual levels. Here we utilize this novel as a unique and abundant case study to generate a broader theoretical discussion of feminism and evolutionary psychology. Integrating the function of fiction (Carroll, 2018), we highlight examples in the novel which illustrate the overt and covert attempts by both sexes to control female sexuality and reproductive potential. Examples from the novel are utilized to discuss myriad behaviors underlying the divergent reproductive interest of men and women, and female-female competition that occurs under patriarchal control. Implicit and explicit tactics women use to resist control over their sexuality are outlined, and we argue that the sensitivity to the structure of a society such as (the fictionalized) Republic of Gilead is only possible via evolved cognitive mechanisms that allow humans to detect attempts to exercise power and control over reproductive choices. We present evidence that evolved emotional and motivational systems incentivize feminists today to prevent such a society, and that feminism itself is only possible as a social, political, and intellectual movement based on those evolved cognitive mechanisms. Public Significance StatementAs evolutionary psychological scientists who identify as feminists in our everyday lives, we analyze a hotly debated feminist novel, The Handmaid's Tale, in the context of evolutionary theory using recent findings from the scientific literature to connect to themes in the novel. We point to patterns of the society's structure and members' behaviors in the dystopian novel and draw upon many areas of research to offer a perspective on the overlap between the goals of evolutionary science and feminism.

show abstract

“…Young children are unable to appreciate the perspectival complexity of mature moral conduct (Grusec). They may therefore be more responsive to simpler and unambiguous moral imaginaries (Kjeldgaard‐Christiansen). In addition, parents may want their children to engage with morally straightforward, prosocial fictions to foster social attunement.…”

Section: Evil Laughter and The Moral Imaginationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Signals and Antisocial Essences: The Function of Evil Laughter in Popular Culture

Kjeldgaard‐Christiansen¹

2018

The J of Popular Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Bad Breaks of Walter White: An Evolutionary Approach to the Fictional Antihero

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

“Such an alternative as this had not occurred to her”: The transformation of Jane Austen’s Emma as understood from an evolutionary perspective.

“Such an alternative as this had not occurred to her”: The transformation of Jane Austen’s Emma as understood from an evolutionary perspective.

The nuanced psychology of The Handmaid’s Tale: Commentary on power, feminism, and the patriarchy from four feminist evolutionary psychologists.

Social Signals and Antisocial Essences: The Function of Evil Laughter in Popular Culture

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About