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Category: Project

Description: Humans can employ a variety of strategies to obtain access to valuable resources and networks. According to Life History Theory, these strategies are influenced by the amount of resources available in the environment. For instance, in conditions of scarcity, individuals seem more likely to use force and intimidation to assert dominance. On the other hand, in conditions of material abundance, nurturing a cooperative reputation through overt prosocial behaviour can lead to better outcomes. In this project, we use text mining techniques to evaluate historical trends in theatre play. We hypothesise that proxy measures of material abundance (e.g. GDP per capita) will predict a higher prevalence of psychological and behavioural signatures of trustworthiness in theatre text (e.g. sympathy and sincerity) in relation to signatures of dominance (e.g. anger and strength). We will analyse Renaissance Texts from England and France (1500-1800), and compare historical trends of both countries.