Abstract
When an individual participates in empirical studies involving the visual arts, they most often are presented with a stream of images, shown on a computer, depicting reproductions of artworks by respected artists but which are often not known to the viewer. While art can of course be shown in presentia actuale—e.g., in the museum—this laboratory paradigm has become our go-to basis for assessing interaction, and, often in conjunction with some means of rating, for assessing evaluative, emotional, cognitive, and even neurophysiological response. However, the question is rarely asked: Do participants actually believe that every image that they are viewing is indeed “Art”? Relatedly, how does this evaluation relate to aesthetic appreciation, and do the answers to these questions vary in accordance with different strategies and interpersonal differences? In this paper, we consider the spontaneous classification of digital reproductions as art or not art. Participants viewed a range of image types—, Hyperrealistic, Poorly Executed paintings, Readymade sculptures, as well as Renaissance and Baroque paintings. They classified these as “art” or “not art” using both binary and analog scales, and also assessed for liking. Almost universally, individuals did not find all items within a class to be “art,” nor did all participants agree on the arthood status for any one item. Art classification in turn showed a significant positive correlation with liking. Whether an object was classified as art moreover correlated with specific personality variables, tastes, and decision strategies. The impact of these findings is discussed for selection/assessment of participants and for better understanding the basis of findings in past and future empirical art research.
Highlights
The question is rarely asked: Do participants believe that every image that they are viewing is “Art”? Relatedly, how does this evaluation relate to aesthetic appreciation, and do the answers to these questions vary in accordance with different strategies and interpersonal differences? In this paper, we consider the spontaneous classification of digital reproductions as art or not art
We were interested in assessing this topic on four levels: (1) do individuals automatically classify art images, presented in a typical laboratory study, as works of art, and if not, to what extent do they reach an “art/not art” conclusion? (2) Does the art classification impact their aesthetic appreciation of the art images, as assessed by liking? (3) What factors or strategies are used by participants when making their decisions? (4) we considered how arthood classification correlates with personality, training, or other demographic and taste factors of the viewer, in order to identify potential signifying criteria that might be important questions to ask when conducting future research
Results based on N = 114 (80 female, M age = 23.2, native German speaking) psychology students from the University of Vienna
Summary
Because of the ability of visual art to elicit a range of psychological reactions and its importance to human action and communication, the last decade of psychological research has seen a burgeoning of studies on the appreciation and understanding of art Among many objectives, these studies aim to investigate art taste and preferences (Chokron and De Agostini, 2000), to find cultural or interpersonal differences in art reception (Masuda et al, 2008), to assess our evaluations of beauty, liking, interest, elicitation of emotion, and, increasingly, to find corresponding areas of activation in the art-confronted brain (Jacobsen et al, 2006; Cela-Conde et al, 2013).
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