Joint attention originated as a survival reflex against predators.

Evidence

The primary motivation and instinct of joint attention would be found in a survival reflex: if my interlocutor diverts his eyes to look at something behind me, it is perhaps because he has just noticed a danger – and I had better turn around straight away to look in the same direction. No love to be found here, but just generation upon generation of natural selection by the cruel law of survival of the most prudent, in a world of prey and predator. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 320

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines the etymological root of ‘attention’ — ‘Attention!’ as a danger call, ‘Fais attention’.

Related

• The word attention derives from a warning against danger. (similarity 0.82)
• Attention is an interactive relation to one’s life-sustaining environment, not a resource (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Attention is fundamentally a collecting and filtering act for survival. #expands (0.78) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 109