Approaching evolutionary communication

Publication Date

11-1-2022

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Communication Theory

Volume

32

Issue

4

DOI

10.1093/ct/qtac017

First Page

429

Last Page

438

Abstract

The determining roles played by communication in the ongoing evolution of our species remain largely unexplored in communications-related disciplines. An unhelpful controversy that raged over E. O. Wilson's sociobiology last century contributed to the problem and is reconsidered here in terms of the fault lines that run between natural science, social science, and politics. The article describes paths for future theoretical development by focusing first on the link between human communications behavior and evolutionary psychology. With an emphasis on understanding the crisis of community facing the world today, evolutionary communication is proposed as a theoretical alternative to limited proximate perspectives afforded by cultural analysis alone. The inherent interdisciplinary nature of communication makes the field a prime candidate for conducting research grounded in the deep-Time explanatory framework of evolutionary theory and the epistemological assumptions of scientific humanism.

Keywords

communication and cultural adaptation, evolution of human behavior, psychology and communication, science and communication, semiotics of communication

Department

Communication Studies

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS