Structure of aesthetic judgements

Abstract

Daniel Berlyne's "new experimental aesthetics" offers a deliberately mole- cular and non-normative view of aesthetic processes. This paper suggests that Berlyne's theoretical structure may derive greater social applicability by regarding aesthetic stimuli as aspects of leisure and the entertainment industry: that the concept of optimal level of stimulation is useful in predicting individual leisure preferences; that a formal link between percep- tion and intrinsic motivation may be found in perceptually-mediated arousal; and that the hedonic value of this arousal is determined by the socially formed values attached to aesthetic stimuli.