The question of
whether human imagination knows no boundaries or is, alternatively, constrained
by conscious or unconscious cognitive templates is a key issue in defining
human mind. We try here to address this extremely large question by focusing on
one particular element of imaginary creations, the specific case of
human-animal hybrids. Human-animal hybrids are common inhabitants of human
imaginary spaces, being regularly encountered across numerous mythologies, as
well as in modern popular culture. If human imagination was unconstrained, it
would be expected that such hybrid creatures would display roughly half human
and half animalistic features. Using several different popular science fiction
and fantasy settings, we conducted an analysis of the morphological traits of
human-animal hybrids, both anatomical and phenotypic. Surprisingly, we observed
extremely high conservation of human morphological traits in human-animal
hybrids, with a contrasting high use of phenotypic (“cosmetic”) alterations,
and with highly stereotyped patterns of morphological alterations. While these
alterations were independent of the setting considered, shape alterations were
setting-dependent and used as a way to increase internal coherence. Finally,
important gender differences were observed, as female human-animal hybrids
retained significantly more human traits than males did, suggesting that
conservation of female appearance may bear essential evolutionary importance.
Taken together, these results demonstrate the existence of strong cognitive
templates which frame and limit the expression of the capacity of human imagination,
and unveil some of the psychological mechanisms which constrain the emergence
of imaginary spaces.
References
[1]
Black, J. A., & Green, A. (1992). Gods, demons and symbols of ancient Mesopotamia. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
[2]
Eadie, W. T., Drijard, D., James, F. E., Roos, M., & Sadoulet, B. (1971). Statistical methods in experimental physics. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
[3]
Eliade, M. (1965). Rites and symbols of initiation: The mysteries of birth and rebirth. New York: Harper & Row.
[4]
Guitton, M. J. (2010). Cross-modal compensation between name and visual aspect in socially active avatars. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1772-1776. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.004
[5]
Guitton, M. J. (2012a). The immersive impact of meta-media in a virtual world. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 450-455.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.016
[6]
Guitton, M. J. (2012b). Living in the hutt space: Immersive process in the star wars role-play community of second life. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 1681-1691. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.04.006
[7]
Harvey, J. S., Watkins, G. M., & Sherman, R. T. (1984). Emergent burn care. Southern Medical Journal, 77, 204-214.
doi:10.1097/00007611-198402000-00019
[8]
Howard, R. E. (1929). The shadow kingdom. Weird Tales.
[9]
Kasten, K. R., Makley, A. T., & Kagan, R. J. (2011). Update on the critical care management of severe burns. Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, 26, 223-236. doi:10.1177/0885066610390869
[10]
Lomanowska, A. M., & Guitton, M. J. (2012). Virtually naked: Virtual environment reveals sex-dependent nature of skin disclosure. PLoS ONE, 7, e51921. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051921
[11]
Lortie, C. L., & Guitton, M. J. (2011). Social organization in virtual settings depends on proximity to human visual aspect. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 1258-1261. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.01.006
[12]
Pinch, G. (2004). Egyptian mythology: A guide to the gods, goddesses, and traditions of ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[13]
Stephens, M. A. (1979). Test of fit for the logistic distribution based on the empirical distribution function. Biometrika, 66, 591-595.
doi:10.1093/biomet/66.3.591
[14]
Wachtel, T. L., Berry, C. C., Wachtel, E. E., & Frank, H. A. (2000). The inter-rater reliability of estimating the size of burns from various burn area chart drawings. Burns, 26, 156-170.
doi:10.1016/S0305-4179(99)00047-9
