The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics

by Marcos Nadal, Oshin Vartanian

Overview

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species' biological and cultural heritage. Art and aesthetics, therefore, contribute to our species identity and distinguish it from its living and extinct relatives. Science is faced with the challenge of explaining the natural foundations of such a unique trait, and the way cultural processes nurture it into magnificent expressions, historically and ethnically unique. How do the human mind and brain bring about these sorts of behaviors? What psychological and neural processes underlie the appreciation of painting, music, and dance? How does training modulate these processes? Are humans the only species capable of aesthetic appreciation, or are other species endowed with the rudiments of this capacity? Empirical examinations of such questions have a long and rich history in the discipline of psychology, the genesis of which can be traced back to the publication of Gustav Theodor Fechner's Vorschule der Aesthetik in 1876, making it the second oldest branch in experimental psychology.

The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics brings together leading experts in psychology, neuroimaging, art history, and philosophy to answer these questions. It provides the most comprehensive coverage of the domain of empirical aesthetics to date. With sections on visual art, dance, music, and many other art forms and aesthetic phenomena, the breadth of this volume's scope reflects the richness and variety of topics and methods currently used today by scientists to understand the way our mind and brain endow us with the faculty to produce and appreciate art and aesthetics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198824350
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/20/2023
Pages:	1104
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 3.50(d)

About the Author

Marcos Nadal, University of the Balearic Islands,Oshin Vartanian, University of Toronto

Marcos Nadal received his B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of the Balearic Islands (Spain) in 2000, and his Ph.D. in Psychology: Human Evolution and Cognition from the same university in 2007. From 2012 to 2015 he enjoyed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Basic Psychology and Research Methods of the University of Vienna. He is Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of the University of the Balearic Islands. He is the Executive Editor of Empirical Studies of the Arts, and serves on the editorial board of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. He is the co-editor of Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain (OUP Press). His research is devoted to characterizing the psychological, neural, and evolutionary foundations of humans' capacity for aesthetic appreciation and creation.

Oshin Vartanian received his PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Maine under the supervision of Colin Martindale. He is the Co-Editor of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, and past Editor of Empirical Studies of the Arts. He is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Division 10 Daniel E. Berlyne Award in recognition of outstanding research by a junior scholar. His co-edited volumes include “Neuroaesthetics” (Baywood Publishing Company), “Neuroscience of creativity” (The MIT Press), “Neuroscience of decision making” (Psychology Press), and most recently “The Cambridge handbook of the neuroscience of creativity” (Cambridge University Press). His main areas of interest include the cognitive and neural bases of aesthetics and creativity.

Table of Contents

Preface, Marcos Nadal and Ohsin VartanianSECTION 1. FOUNDATIONS1. Empirical Aesthetics: An overview, Marcos Nadal and Oshin Vartanian2. 100 years of Empirical Aesthetics: 1876 - 1976, Marcos Nadal and Esther Ureña3. Revisiting Fechner's methods, Gesche Westphal-Fitch4. The link between Empirical Aesthetics and philosophy, William P. Seeley5. Appreciation modes in Empirical Aesthetics, Rolf Reber6. Exploring the landscape of emotion in aesthetic experience, Gerald C. Cupchik7. The neurobiology of sensory valuation, Martin Skov8. The evolution of aesthetics and beauty, Dahlia W. ZaidelSECTION 2. METHODS9. Historiometric methods, Dean Keith Simonton10. Observation method in Empirical Aesthetics, Pablo P. L. Tinio and Eva Specker11. Observational drawing research methods, Justin Ostrofsky12. Implicit measures in the aesthetic domain, Letizia Palumbo13. The study of eye movements in Empirical Aesthetics, Paul Locher14. Electrophysiology, Thomas Jacobsen and Stina Klein15. Functional neuroimaging in Empirical Aesthetics and Neuroaesthetics, Tomohiro Ishizu16. Noninvasive brain stimulation. Contribution to research in Neuroaesthetics, Zaira Cattaneo17. Integrated methods: A call for integrative and interdisciplinary aesthetics research, Martin Tröndle, Steven Greenwood, Chandrasekhar Ramakrishnan, Folkert Uhde, Hauke Egermann, and Wolfgang TschacherSECTION 3. OBJECT FEATURES18. The use of visual statistical features in Empirical Aesthetics, Daniel Graham19. Color, Oshin Vartanian20. The role of collative variables in aesthetic experience, Manuela Marin21. Processing fluency, Michael Forster22. The study of symmetry in Empirical Aesthetics, Marco Bertamini and Giulia Rampone23. The curvature effect, Guido Corradi and Enric Munar24. Facial attractiveness, Aleksandra Mitrovic and Jürgen GollerSECTION 4. ARTFORMS25. The empirical aesthetics of music, Elvira Brattico26. The aesthetics of action and movement, Emily S. Cross and Andrea Orlandi27. The aesthetics of dance, Beatriz Calvo-Merino28. The audio-visual aesthetics of music and dance, Guido Orgs and Claire Howlin29. Aesthetic responses to architecture, Alexander Coburn and Anjan Chatterjee30. Aesthetics, technology, and popular movies, James E. Cutting31. Empirical Aesthetics of poetry, Winfried Menninghaus and Stefan Blohm32. Aesthetic responses to the characters, plots, worlds, and style of stories, Marta M. Maslej, Joshua A. Quinlan, and Raymond A. MarSECTION 5. THE PERSON33. The role of attention, executive processes, and memory in aesthetic experience, John W. Mullennix34. Children's appreciation of art, Thalia R. Goldstein35. The influence of expertise on aesthetics, Aaron Kozbelt36. The influence of personality on aesthetic preferences, Viren Swami and Adrian Furnham37. Aesthetic sensitivity, Nils Myszkowski38. Cross-cultural empirical aesthetics, Jiajia Che and Xiaolei SunSECTION 6. THE CONTEXT39. The general impact of context on aesthetic experience, Matthew Pelowski and Eva Specker40. Empirical Aesthetics - Context, extra information and framing, Helmut Leder and Matthew Pelowski41. Studying Empirical Aesthetics in museum contexts, Jeffrey K. Smith and Lisa F. Smith42. Aesthetic experience in everyday environments, Paul J. Silvia and Katherine N. Cotter43. The impact of the social context on aesthetic experience, Stefano MastandreaSECTION 7. APPLICATIONS44. Design and aesthetics, Paul Hekkert45. The role of Empirical Aesthetics in consumer behavior, Vanessa M. Patrick and Henrik Hagtvedt46. On the Empirical Aesthetics of plating, Charles Spence

Editorial Reviews

"A must-have for those interested in the psychology of aesthetics, the arts, and subjective experiences that in the past have defied empirical investigation." — Robert J. Sternberg, Professor of Psychology, Cornell University, USA

"How do we respond to and evaluate works of art? How is our response shaped by biology, culture, and/or personality? What methods are used to answer such questions empirically? For all researchers in the field of empirical aesthetics, and for readers outside the field interested in art and the mind, this handbook is an essential resource." — Ellen Winner, Professor Emerita of Psychology, Boston College, USA Senior Research Associate, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA, Author of How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration (OUP, 2019)

"In 1871 Gustav Theodor Fechner conceived of an experimental aesthetics, studying art from below rather than above, using empirical not philosophical methods, studying what is liked rather than what should be liked. The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Aesthetics comprehensively summarises progress in realising Fechner's vision." — Chris McManus, Professor of Psychology, University College London, UK

"Filled to the brim with chapters on every imaginable aspect of the exciting and expanding field of empirical aesthetics. Overseen by masterful editors, this book is required reading for any scholar of the arts." — James C. Kaufman, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, USA

From the Publisher