Synonyms
Definition
The Savanna Hypothesis states that we retain genetically based preferences for features of high-quality African savannas where our ancestors lived when their brains and bodies evolved into their modern forms.
Introduction
Selection of a place to live is a crucial step in the lives of most animals. Selection depends on the recognition of objects, sounds, and odors to which an animal, molded by natural selection, responds as if it understood their significance for its future survival and reproductive success. Evolutionary theory suggests that the ability of a landscape to evoke positive emotional states should be positively correlated with the expected survival and reproductive success of individuals of that species in it. In other words, good habitats should evoke strong positive responses; poor habitats should evoke weak or negative responses (Orians and Heerwagen 1992). Habitat selection has served as a conceptual basis for...
Keywords
- African Savanna
- Tropical Savanna
- Landscape Preference
- Savanna Tree
- Herbaceous Understory
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
References
Appleton, J. (1975). The experience of landscape. New York: Wiley.
Balling, J. D., & Falk, J. H. (1982). Development of visual preferences for natural environments. Environment and Behavior, 14, 5–28.
Bernáldez, F., Gallardo, D., & Abelló, R. P. (1987). Children’s landscape preferences: From rejection to attraction. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 7, 169–176.
Campbell, B. (1985). Human evolution (3rd ed.). New York: Aldine.
Coss, R. G. (2003). The role of evolved perceptual biases in art and design. In E. Voland & K. Grammer (Eds.), Evolutionary aesthetics (pp. 69–130). Heidelberg: Springer.
Coss, R. G., & Goldthwaite, R. O. (1995). The persistence of old designs for perception. In N. S. Thompson (Ed.), Perspectives in ethology, volume 11: Behavioral design (pp. 83–148). New York: Plenum Press.
Coss, R. G., & Moore, M. (2002). Precocious knowledge of trees as antipredator refuge in preschool children: An examination of aesthetics, attributive judgments, and relic sexual dinichism. Ecological Psychology, 14, 181–222.
Heerwagen, J. H., & Orians, G. H. (1993). Humans, habitats, and aesthetics. In S. R. Kellert & E. O. Wilson (Eds.), The biophilia hypothesis (pp. 138–172). Washington, DC: Island Press.
Henshilwood, C. S., d’Errico, F., Marean, C. W., Milo, R. G., & Yates, R. (2001). An early bone tool industry from the Middle Stone Age at Blombos Cave, South Africa: Implications for the origins of modern human behaviour, symbolism and language. Journal of Human Evolution, 41, 631–678.
Herzog, T. R. (1985). A cognitive analysis of preference for waterscapes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 5, 225–241.
Komar, V., & Melamid, A. (1997). In J. A. Wypijewski (Ed.), Painting by the numbers: Komar and Melamid’s scientific guide to art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Lohr, V. I., & Pearson-Mims, C. H. (2006). Responses to scenes with spreading, rounded, and conical tree forms. Environment and Behavior, 38, 667–668.
Lyons, E. (1983). Demographic correlates of landscape preference. Environment and Behavior, 15, 487–511.
Mellaart, J. (1968). Çatal Hüyük: A neolithic town in Anatolia. London: Thames and Hudson.
Nabhan, G. P. (2004). Why some like it hot. Food, genes, and cultural diversity. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Orians, G. H. (1980). Habitat selection. In J. S. Lockard (Ed.), The evolution of human social behavior (pp. 49–66). New York: Elsevier.
Orians, G. H. (2014). Snakes, sunrises and Shakespeare. How evolution shapes our loves and fears. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Orians, G. H., & Heerwagen, J. H. (1992). Evolved responses to landscapes. In J. H. Barkow, L. Cosmides, & J. Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind (pp. 555–579). New York: Oxford University Press.
Repton, H. (1907). The art of landscape gardening. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Ross, S. (1998). What gardens mean. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Shanes, E. (1979). Turner’s picturesque views of England and Wales, 1825–1838. London: Chatto & Windus.
Shuttleworth, S. (1980). The use of photographs as an environmental presentation medium in landscape studies. Journal of Environmental Management, 11, 61–76.
Sommer, R. (1997). Further cross-national studies of tree-form preference. Ecological Psychology, 9, 153–160.
Sommer, R., & Summit, J. (1996). Cross-national rankings of tree shape. Ecological Psychology, 8, 327–341.
Tuan, Y.-F. (1974). Topophilia. A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Ulrich, R. S. (1981). Natural versus urban spaces: Some psychophysiological effects. Environment and Behavior, 13, 523–556.
Wilson, M. E., Robertson, L. D., Daley, M., & Walton, S. A. (1995). Effects of visual cues on assessment of water quality. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 53–63.
Witzel, M. (2015). Water in mythology. Daedalus, 144, 18–26.
Wrangham, R. (2009). Catching fire. How cooking made us human. New York: Basic Books.
Zube, E. H., Simcox, D. E., & Law, C. S. (1987). Perceptual landscape simulations: History and prospect. Landscape Journal, 6, 62–80.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Orians, G.H. (2016). Savanna Hypothesis, The. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2930-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2930-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences