In the study of the evolutionary origins of music, a dominant paradigm long aligned with Steven Pinker's characterization of music as "auditory cheesecake"—a non-adaptive byproduct of other cognitive functions such as language and motor control. Challenging this view, ethnomusicologist Joseph Jordania posits that early human choral singing served a direct evolutionary function as an anti-predator defense mechanism. Jordania suggests that loud, rhythmic group singing created the illusion of a massive, unified entity, effectively deterring predators. Anthropologist Ellen Dissanayake also rejects the byproduct theory but focuses on internal group dynamics, arguing that music's evolutionary value resides in its unique ability to synchronize group emotional states and foster profound social cohesion, a necessity for the survival of early human communities. While modern evolutionary biologists generally concede that both Jordania and Dissanayake establish plausible adaptive functions for music, they caution that the available fossil and archaeological records make it exceptionally difficult to definitively distinguish between a behavior that initially evolved for a specific adaptive purpose and a non-adaptive byproduct that was only subsequently co-opted for survival advantages.
According to the passage, the modern evolutionary biologists mentioned in the text hold which one of the following views?
- AMusic's unique capacity to foster profound social cohesion was a necessity for the survival of early human communities.
- BThe fossil and archaeological records prove that music was a non-adaptive byproduct that was subsequently co-opted to provide survival advantages.
- The currently available physical evidence makes it highly difficult to ascertain whether a behavior originally emerged to provide a specific survival advantage or whether it was a byproduct later repurposed for that use.Answer
- DThe adaptive functions proposed by Jordania and Dissanayake definitively invalidate the characterization of music as merely a byproduct of language and motor control.
- ETheories emphasizing social cohesion and anti-predator defense are methodologically superior to the theory that music is simply an evolutionary byproduct.