TY - JOUR

T1 - High on Crime Fiction and Detection

AU - Grodal, Torben Kragh

PY - 2010/11/1

Y1 - 2010/11/1

N2 - This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpinningsof crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural andbiological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues thatalthough crime fiction is a product of modern life conditions, it is also centrallyfueled in the minds of viewers and readers by the mammalian dopamineseeking/wanting system developed for seeking out resources by foraging andhunting and important for focused mental and physical goal-directed activities.The article describes the way the working of the seeking system explainshow crime fiction activates strong salience (in some respects similar to the effectof dopamine-drugs like cocaine, Ritalin, and amphetamine) and discussesthe role of social intelligence in crime fiction. It further contrasts the unempathicclassical detector fictions with two subtypes of crime fiction that blendseeking with other emotions: the hardboiled crime fiction that blends detectionwith action and hot emotions like anger and bonding, and the moralcrime fiction that strongly evokes moral disgust and contempt, often in conjunctionwith detectors that perform hard to fake signals of moral commitmentthat make them role models for modern work ethics. The article is partof bio-cultural research that describes how biology and culture interact as arguedin Grodal’s Embodied Visions.K

AB - This article analyzes the psychological and neurological underpinningsof crime fiction and discusses the interrelation between cultural andbiological-evolutionary determinants of fictions of detection. It argues thatalthough crime fiction is a product of modern life conditions, it is also centrallyfueled in the minds of viewers and readers by the mammalian dopamineseeking/wanting system developed for seeking out resources by foraging andhunting and important for focused mental and physical goal-directed activities.The article describes the way the working of the seeking system explainshow crime fiction activates strong salience (in some respects similar to the effectof dopamine-drugs like cocaine, Ritalin, and amphetamine) and discussesthe role of social intelligence in crime fiction. It further contrasts the unempathicclassical detector fictions with two subtypes of crime fiction that blendseeking with other emotions: the hardboiled crime fiction that blends detectionwith action and hot emotions like anger and bonding, and the moralcrime fiction that strongly evokes moral disgust and contempt, often in conjunctionwith detectors that perform hard to fake signals of moral commitmentthat make them role models for modern work ethics. The article is partof bio-cultural research that describes how biology and culture interact as arguedin Grodal’s Embodied Visions.K

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - bioculturalism

KW - dopaminergic seeking

KW - detection

KW - crime fiction

M3 - Journal article

VL - 4

SP - 64

EP - 85

JO - Projections (New York)

JF - Projections (New York)

SN - 1934-9688

IS - 2

ER -