CONCEPT
Social Bonding Function of Art
The first of the three adaptive functions Dissanayake identified for making special — the building of trust and cohesion through the mutual investment of effort in shared creative work.
The social bonding function is Dissanayake's primary argument for why making special evolved and persists. Making special strengthens social bonds through the mechanism of costly mutual investment: the community that elaborates its ceremonies together, the team that builds something together, the family that prepares a meaningful meal together — all develop cohesion that merely functional cooperation cannot produce. The effort is shared. The vulnerability is mutual. The specialness belongs to the group. The bonds built through this shared investment persist beyond the immediate activity, creating the web of reciprocal obligation that sustains cooperation under future pressure.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The function is tested against the alternative: cooperation without shared making-special. Groups that work together on strictly functional tasks develop some cooperation but limited bonding. The hours of rehearsal before a dance, the communal preparation of ritual regalia, the collective singing that transforms individuals into coordinated sound — these produce a different quality of cohesion, grounded in