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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–2Cite as

Supernormal Stimulus

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Synonyms

Artificial stimulus; Supernormality

Definition

An artificial stimulus capable of eliciting an innate, instinctual stimulus-response more powerfully than the original natural stimulus for which the response is adaptively intended.

Introduction

Our minds evolved as a set of psychological mechanisms, each designed by natural selection to solve a particular adaptive problem. Different stimuli activate different mechanisms, thus eliciting different responses. Unfortunately, this also means that our information-processing machinery is prone to certain kinds of errors because natural selection shaped our brains to interpret the world in an adaptive fashion and not necessarily in a truthful manner. As a result, and particularly with the rapid change between our environment of evolutionary adaptedness and today’s artificially made environment, some unnatural stimuli can activate the same mechanisms that naturally evolved stimuli do. These unnatural stimuli are referred to as...

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References

  • Barrett, D. (2010). Supernormal stimuli: How primal urges overran their evolutionary purpose. New York: WW Norton & Company.

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  • Tinbergen, N., & Perdeck, A. C. (1951). On the stimulus situation releasing the begging response in the newly hatched herring gull chick (Larus argentatus argentatus Pont.). Behaviour, 3(1), 1–39.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University London, London, UK

    Vania Rolon

  2. Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Kian Betancourt

  3. State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, USA

    Nate Postol

Authors
  1. Vania Rolon
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  2. Kian Betancourt
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  3. Nate Postol
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vania Rolon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Dominican College, Orangeburg, NY, USA

    Haley Dillon

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Cite this entry

Rolon, V., Betancourt, K., Postol, N. (2018). Supernormal Stimulus. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_413-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_413-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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