Aesthetic Paradigm In Personality Psychology

Abstract

The importance of the aesthetic paradigm for the modern psychology of personality is considered. The leading significance of the aesthetic paradigm for the epistemology of a transitive, changeable and uncertain society is proved. This value is connected with the fact that aesthetic experiences make it possible to introduce the psychology of personality into the framework of cultural determination. This opens new opportunities for modern epistemology, in which paradigms are transformed into gestalts, open to new data and further modifications. The role of the language of science and the language of art is revealed as complementary discourses in explaining the place of a person in modern space and time. It is proved that the aesthetic paradigm and aesthetic experiences make it possible to stabilize the changing social system and to realize the emotions associated with the variability of the social context. The stabilization of the system becomes possible due to the fact that the time-space system is transformed into a spectator-creator-work subsystem. Aesthetic experiences, crystallized in works of art, help viewers to realize their own emotions associated with the variability of identity. The connection of aesthetics with everyday life helps to maintain (or restore) the integrity of identity and continuity of individual stages of a person’s life. The constancy of works of art and emotions associated with art, nature, science, helps people see themselves in the flow of changeable and at the same time constant life and accept it as a holistic image of the world and themselves within it.