The evolution of aesthetics: A review of models

Abstract

The evolution of aesthetics has become an increasingly popular topic over the last few years, both for evolutionary biologists and for scholars from other disciplines who want to broaden the historical perspective of their findings. Different models have been proposed to explain evolution of aesthetics, all inspired from research in sexual selection. In this chapter, I review three of these models: beauty as an indicator of quality, Fisher’s model of aesthetic coevolution, and the exploitation of efficient information processing. I argue that only the last model can simultaneously explain the ubiquity and universality of aesthetic experiences, and the diversity and extravagancy of beautiful stimuli. The model fits both to empirical results from psychology and image statistics showing that beautiful stimuli are efficiently processed by perceptual and cognitive systems, and to neurophysiological evidences supporting the concept of "disinterestedness" in philosophy of aesthetics. The exploitation of efficient processing uniquely offers a workable model for evolutionary biology that further articulates with concepts and results from other aesthetic sciences.