The Social Origins of Music

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Zusammenfassung
• Summary
• Acknowledgements

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This dissertation investigates the evolutionary origins of music. The author seeks to contribute new empirical evidence to the ongoing debate about whether musical behavior is a product of innate psychological mechanisms or a result of human cultural flexibility and inventiveness.

• The role of music in fostering social bonding and prosocial behavior within groups
• The development of rhythmic entrainment, the ability to synchronize movements to a musical beat
• The impact of musical experiences on individual differences in rhythmic entrainment
• The influence of cultural factors on musical development and behavior
• The potential role of cumulative cultural evolution in explaining the apparent adaptiveness of musical behaviors

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The dissertation presents four studies exploring the role of music in social bonding and the development of rhythmic entrainment in young children. The first study examines the impact of joint music-making on prosocial behavior in pairs of four-year-old children. The second study investigates the ontogeny of rhythmic entrainment, exploring the influence of social context on children's ability to synchronize their movements to a drum beat. The third and fourth studies expand on the second, investigating the impact of musical experiences and cultural differences on individual differences in rhythmic entrainment. The author concludes that music's apparent adaptiveness to various situations is likely explained by cumulative cultural evolution, rather than innate psychological mechanisms specific to music.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The dissertation focuses on the evolutionary origins of music, exploring themes related to social bonding, rhythmic entrainment, musical enculturation, cumulative cultural evolution, and the influence of innate psychological mechanisms.