Aesthetic Motivation Research Articles

Body alteration: On the mental function of body modification and body decoration

Decorating the body as well as (semi-)permanent bodily modifications are a longstanding human practice, together with spending a great amount of time and effort on such body alterations. The present article reviews the mental functions of body-altering behavior. The primary aim is to identify and elucidate the predominant mental function underpinning these body alterations. Following several guidelines for reviews, we synthesized the literature, including several categories of body-altering entities from different eras. We argue that there are two crucial commonalities for individuals engaging in body-altering behavior that comprise the mental functions for doing so: aesthetics and group affiliation (dynamics), including the latter’s subfunctions of supporting individuality, resistance, personal narrative, physical endurance, and sexual motivation. Incorporating the existing literature, we find that aesthetic motivation takes precedence over group affiliation, thereby establishing aesthetics as the primary mental function of body-altering behavior; factors substantiating this conclusion are explored in detail within the article.

Aesthetic Motivation Impacts Judgments of Others' Prosociality and Mental Life.

The ability to infer others' prosocial vs. antisocial behavioral tendencies from minimal information is core to social reasoning. Aesthetic motivation (the value or appreciation of aesthetic beauty) is linked with prosocial tendencies, raising the question of whether this factor is used in interpersonal reasoning and in the attribution of mental capacities. We propose and test a model of this reasoning, predicting that evidence of others' aesthetic motivations should impact judgments of others' prosocial (and antisocial) tendencies by signaling a heightened capacity for emotional experience. In a series of four pre-registered experiments (total N = 1440), participants saw pairs of characters (as photos/vignettes), and judged which in each pair showed more of a mental capacity of interest. Distractor items prevented participants from guessing the hypothesis. For one critical pair of characters, both characters performed the same activity (music listening, painting, cooking, exercising, being in nature, doing math), but one was motivated by the activities' aesthetic value, and the other by its functional value. Across all activities, participants robustly chose aesthetically-motivated characters as more likely to behave compassionately (Exp. 1; 3), less likely to behave selfishly/manipulatively (Exp. 1; 3), and as more emotionally sensitive, but not more intelligent (Exp. 2; 3; 4). Emotional sensitivity best predicted compassionate behavior judgements (Exp. 3). Aesthetically-motivated characters were not reliably chosen as more helpful; intelligence best predicted helpfulness judgements (Exp. 4). Evidence of aesthetic motivation conveys important social information about others, impacting fundamental interpersonal judgments about others' mental life and social behavior.

Motivations for and interests in health-enhancing exercise of adolescent girls with different body weight

The article discusses the issue of development of motives and interests in adolescent children with different body weights (normal and underweight) when involving them in programs of physical activity based on the use of health fitness means. The aim of the study was to assess the motives and interests of adolescent girls with different body weights for participation in health-enhancing physical activities in order to increase the level of their involvement in regular physical activity classes. Methods: analysis of theoretical material, comparative analysis (comparison and comparison), sociological methods (questionnaires), and methods of mathematical statistics. The study involved 138 girls aged 12-13 years. Results. Priority types of physical activity of 12-13-year-old girls during their leisure time were: walks, dance fitness, roller skating, mental fitness, functional training, and aqua fitness. The choice of types of health-enhancing recreational physical activity did not differ significantly among normal weight and underweight adolescent girls aged 12-13 years. When choosing health-enhancing physical activities, the main objectives were: aesthetic motives (increasing physical attractiveness and body weight management), achievement of prestigious motives (desire to increase prestige, to be accepted in society), recreational motives (active leisure time, emotionally attractive organization of free time, satisfaction from activity). For most adolescent girls, health reasons (improvement of health status and functional capabilities of the body) were not a priority. The difference in answers between normal weight and underweight girls was found to be significant. Conclusion. In the rating of motives of underweight girls, the first places were occupied by aesthetic, prestigious, recreational, and personal motives, whereas in girls with a normative body weight, psychological, aesthetic, and health-recreational motives prevailed.

Is the Orthodontic Smile Considered as Aesthetic in Adult Patients?

In the last five years, pioneer studies were carried out in the Egas Moniz University Clinic surrounding the mental representation of the smile, centred on adolescent patients wearing orthodontic appliances, emerging with the results obtained as a new form of categorizing the perfect smile: The Orthodontic Smile. The present study is qualitative and exploratory and aims to understand the importance of the self-perception (mental representation) of the smile, now with the help of a new age range - Adult Patients. The sample consists of 100 subjects in the adult phase (25–59 y), namely patients wearing orthodontic appliances who were asked to draw two percepts about the self-perception of their own smile in two distinct moments: the first drawing, corresponding to before the wear of the orthodontic appliance (M1), and the second one, corresponding to drawing their smile after undergoing the orthodontic treatment (M2). The content analysis of the 200 drawings obtained was realized through a grid of content analysis, constituted by categories and subcategories. The patients also filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire, in which they responded to four open-ended questions in relation to the mental representation of the smile. Regarding the content analysis of the narrative, we highlight the fact that a Nice Smile seems to be mostly described as a Natural Smile and Aligned, being a motive for the seeking of dental treatment, primarily aesthetic issues, followed by functional considerations. When comparing the drawings before (M1) and after (M2) the wear of orthodontic appliances, the Category Broad Smile, is set up as the smile chosen as the most aesthetic. It seems that aesthetic motives represent the motivational power for the patient in the adult phase, when they decide to look for Orthodontic treatment.

Androgenic-anabolic steroids use among women: prevalence of use and intention to use among those with high-intensity functional training practice

ABSTRACT Background Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use among women has raising over years, especially due to aesthetic motivation, but performance improvement is another motivation. Since high-intensity functional training (HIFT) exhibits an intrinsic competitive aspect, we investigated the AAS use among women HIFT practitioners. Methods Using the “virtual snowball,” 291 Brazilian women HIFT practitioners answered an online survey. Results The prevalence of AAS use was 22%, but the use after the HIFT adherence was 15%. Among those who never used, 12.3% reported intention to use. Age, marital status, and time of training were significantly associated with AAS use. Aesthetics was the main motivation for use, and 59.7% reported using it on medical advice. The main motivation was aesthetics, but it seems to have a trend to change the motivation for performance improvement over aesthetics, especially among women with longer training time. Conclusion The prevalence of AAS use was high; however, it seems that HIFT adherence is not a factor raising the prevalence of AAS use among physically active women. Additionally, the motivation for AAS use among women HIFT practitioners seems to be trending toward change, increasing the motivation for performance improvement over aesthetic motivation, especially among women with longer HIFT adherence time.

Influence Of Crisis States In Ukraine On The Motivation Priorities Of Students For Physical Education

The article is devoted to the analysis of changes in students' motivational priorities for physical education under the influence of crisis situations in Ukraine. The number of hours devoted to the discipline "Physical education" has been decreasing in recent years, which may have a negative impact on the health of students. However, even with the available small number of practical classes, it is necessary that students attend them systematically, supplementing these classes with independent training in their free time from studying. A conscious and voluntary increase in the level of one's own motivation for regular physical activity contributes to the systematic use of physical culture and sports in a person's everyday life and, as a result, has a positive effect on his health. The authors proposed a questionnaire, which included four blocks of motives, namely: health motives, educational and communicative motives, psychologically meaningful and aesthetic motives. The initial survey was conducted in 2013, and repeated during the 2020 and 2022 academic years during crisis situations. Global digitization, restrictions on quarantine due to Covid-19 and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine have brought significant changes to the universal life of young people and their physical activity, in particular.
 A study of changes in motivational priorities affecting students' attendance at physical education classes in recent years was conducted. The impact of quarantine restrictions due to Covid-19, as well as the introduced martial law in the country, on the physical activity of students was analyzed. The dynamics of changes in motivational priorities that affect students' interest in attending classes in the discipline "Physical Education" are determined.

"Na Litwie much dostatek". Idee ochrony przyrody wobec zgrzebnej codzienności

The article centers on the Romantic cult of familiarity as an essential premise for the idea of nature conservation. The reading of Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz shows that economic or aesthetic motives for acting for the benefit of the natural environment are ultimately less important than an intimate, ‘homely’ relationship with nature: love of native fauna and flora — in all their manifestations. The ‘hunts’ for flies, which keep Wojski Hreczecha’s attention, demonstrate, however, that the relationship between man and nonhuman nature is in some respects far from the desired mythical harmony. The “abundance” of flies in Lithuania, which is enclosed in quotation marks of a discreet joke, also prompts us to a critical rethinking of ideas about the inexhaustible richness of nature.

Intraosseous Cavernous Hemangioma of the Neurocranium: A Review of the Literature

Skull primary intraosseous cavernous hemangiomas (PICHs) are uncommon, benign, and slowgrowing tumors. These lesions are not widely known, specifically as regards the pathogenesis. The researchers wanted to describe the clinical presentations and radiological characteristics through a literature review of 140 cranial patients who received surgical treatment and histological diagnosis. Although PICH is uncommon, it should always be considered when a hard, steadily expanding skull lesion is seen. Surgical resection should be the first line of therapy for symptomatic individuals and aesthetic motivation, and their long-term results following complete removal are excellent. Moreover, we describe four patients with PICH to enrich the literature.

Создание мемориального комплекса «Героям Сталинградской битвы» на Мамаевом кургане: историческая память, искусство и советская монументальная пропаганда

Introduction. The article, based on a wide range of sources, described the creation of a memorial complex on Mamaev Kurgan in the hero city of Stalingrad/Volgograd and related public and non-public discussions. Methods and materials. An attempt was made to comprehend this process through the prism of the general dynamics of the formation of historical memory of the Great Patriotic War and the development of Soviet monumental art in the 1940s and 1960s. Using the method of actor-network analysis, the author of the article tries to reconstruct the goals, motives and actions of the main circle of interested parties (actors) who participated in the creation of the memorial complex “Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad”: the highest state-party leadership of the USSR, municipal authorities, residents of the hero city, representatives of the creative community (architects, sculptors, writers, artists), as well as veterans – participants in the battle on the Volga. Analysis and Results. Based on the study materials, it is concluded that all these “historical memory designers” contributed to the creation of a unique monument-ensemble on Mamaev Kurgan, opened in 1967, guided not only by commemorative, but also by political-ideological, financial, career, status, moral-ethics and aesthetic motives. The need to erect a large memorial in the context of the Khrushchev campaign to combat excesses in architecture and criticism from individual members of the public demanded that the authors of the project, led by sculptor E.V. Vuchetich, transform it and adapt it to new realities, and also updated the process of forming the concept of the “Lenin’s plan of monumental propaganda”.

El orden de las palabras como recurso poético en Tácito (Annales IV

In our analysis of Tacitus' work, we have explored his style, in which, among other aspects, such as ellipsis, the alteration of the order of words in the phrase stands out as a significant feature. This alteration, which contrasts with the usual SOV and «determinant-determined» structures, emerges as a crucial resource in his prose. Our approach attempts to demonstrate that dislocations affect the signified and the signifier equally, and therefore obey expressive or aesthetic motivations. Furthermore, we consider the context of linguistic change of his time and Tacitus's preferences for different models, enriching the understanding of his style and his literary legacy and connecting with the evolution towards Neo-Latin languages.

Motivation for independent physical education among university students

The article is devoted to the definition motives that determine the orientation of independent physical exercises for students and identifying limiting factors that prevent students from engaging in physical activity. A questionnaire survey of students of the Ural Federal University was conducted. The study involved 1,047 people aged 18-21 years. The study has shown that the main motives for self-exercise are the desire to maintain health throughout life (wellness motive). Slightly fewer respondents engage in physical exercise in order to gain additional self-confidence and transform their appearance (aesthetic motive). Also, the data from the questionnaire suggest that at this age there is still no need for the effects of physical exercise on the body, health, efficiency because a beautiful physique is perceived as a given and physical education is not perceived as a means of improving the quality of life.

An artistic infantilisation of war: “The Mythogenic Love of Casts” by S. Anufriev and P. Pepperstein and “Achtung, Zelig! The Second War” by K. Gawronkiewicz and K. Rosenberg

The paper examines the novel “The Mythogenic Love of Casts” (1999– 2002) by Sergey Anufriev and Pavel Pepperstein, both from the younger generation of the Moscow Conceptualists, and the comic strip “Achtung, Zelig! The Second War” (2004) by the Polish authors Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz and Krystian Rosenberg from the perspective of a specific representation of the Second World War (a narrative on the border between the reality and fantasy, adulthood and childhood, historical facts and grotesque). Of particular interest is the psychological and aesthetic motivation of the Russian and the Polish authors. The texts are an attempt to capture the experience of children of the 1970s: Both the unimaginable nature of war (and the Holocaust in the case of Polish comic strips) and the oversaturation of consciousness with approximate and fragmented, yet ideologized and mythologized knowledge of the former. The mythologemes of war are brought into the circle of “childhood discourse” and the concept of war is associated with the discourse of childhood and infantile behavior. By combining adult-real and children-fairytale perspectives, the official stereotypes indoctrinated into the mass historical consciousness through literature, film, posters, school, comic strips and political cartoons are reconsidered. On the one hand, the “childish”, inaccurate, fabulous, or fantastic, fragmentary idea of the war is literalized. On the other hand, adult play with the war mythologems takes place: The authors act as interpreters of the myth using the templates present in the minds of any representative of their generation. Both texts are embodiments of generational experience of existence within the ideology, they are also an attempt to achieve a unity between childhood and adulthood, naive and sophisticated, Socialism and Post-Socialism.

Generic Health-Related Quality-of-Life Changes after Rhinoplasty: A Prospective Study with Long-Term Results.

Our objective was to investigate changes in specific generic health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) domains achieved by rhinoplasty, to investigate whether modifications of somatic-, psychologic-, and social-related HRQoL domains are different in patients with functional or aesthetic motivation for rhinoplasty, and to investigate if HRQoL changes are related to a functional or an aesthetic nasal improvement. This was a prospective study with 1 year of follow-up. Fifty-four consecutive Caucasian patients submitted to rhinoplasty were evaluated with 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and EuroQuality-of-Life 5 Domain (EQ-5D) questionnaires. To correlate changes in generic HRQoL with functional and aesthetic modifications achieved by rhinoplasty, evaluation of patients also included assessment of Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow and Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation, Visual Analogue Scale for nasal airway obstruction (NAO), and Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation scores.Modifications in each generic HRQoL health-domain were analyzed to investigate the possible relation with motivation for surgery and with functional or aesthetic improvement. There was a significant improvement in EQ-5D (p < 0.001), EQ-5D VAS (p = 0.002) and in the SF-36 domains of general health (p < 0.001), energy (p < 0.001), physical functioning (p < 0.001), physical limitation (p = 0.005), pain (p = 0.003), and well-being (p = 0.018). Improvement was significant in groups of patients with NAO or in whom a septoplasty was performed and was associated with patient-reported functional improvement. There was a significant improvement in health change (p < 0.001), verified in all groups of patients. This prospective study with long-term results demonstrates that rhinoplasty significantly improves most domains of generic HRQoL. This improvement is associated with patient-reported functional improvement. Emotional limitation and social functioning are not significantly changed by rhinoplasty. IV.

PATTERNS OF THE FORMATION OF RURAL PUBLIC BUILDING IN MODERN CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPMENT

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the formation of public buildings in rural settlements and directions of its development. The processes of the formation of the village space, dictated by the factors of culture, society, mentality and traditions over several decades, are highlighted. This architecture is distinguished by a special character filled with natural and climatic features, close to the landscape of the area, accordingly, the optimal consideration of natural factors completely solves most of the operational processes. The public building of the village has a content dictated also by functional features, and its presence gives an opportunity to improve the cultural and household, service side of its residents. The development of rural areas depends to a large extent on the level of provision of social standards at the same time as the availability of housing and energy supply. The relevance of the study is substantiated by the identification of the features of public buildings in rural settlements, their nomenclature and layout, the regularity of arrangement by type of building in terms of the nature of the settlement and the requests of its residents. The research methodology consists of real-time studies of the construction of Ukrainian villages, analysis of the formed planning, geopolitical and social infrastructure, analysis of scientific publications in the field of economics, urbanism and social transformations of rural settlements.&#x0D; The architecture of the Ukrainian village has its own character and its own aesthetic motives dictated by a number of factors. The history of the village of western Ukraine dates back more than one century, and the layering of experience provides the basis for further development. Public buildings - administrative, cultural and household buildings have an important role in the life of the community, but it is still at the stage of formation. The political and economic situation in the country today dictates new conditions for the full functioning of citizens. Standardization of public buildings in the village is currently imperfect. The insufficient number of studies and the rapid pace of transformation of the urban planning system provide space for further work on the analysis of existing buildings and their renovation.&#x0D; The study of the existing infrastructure and the needs of the population highlights clear directions for the improvement of the rural environment by minimizing costs in construction and further operation of buildings. Administrative and cultural and household institutions need space compaction due to the multi-functionality of the environment, taking into account current operational needs. The situation that has developed in Ukraine dictates a number of requirements for the conversion of educational and medical institutions in order to increase the level of safety and service of various population groups, which requires the search for effective solutions also in the design of new buildings.

Aesthetic Motivation in Quantum Physics: Past and Present

AbstractThis essay explores the relations between aesthetics and motivation, primarily in quantum physics, focusing on the notions of play, beauty, and the joy of insight. The motivating role of these notions is examined both historically among the quantum pioneers and contemporarily, based on a series of interviews, among physicists associated with the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen.

A MOTIVAÇÃO ESTÉTICA DE PRENOMES

O objetivo deste artigo é categorizar a motivação estética a partir de narrações de designadores que atribuíram um nome ao filho, como também de filhos que foram nomeados com tal motivação. Para o objetivo proposto, foi analisado um banco de dados constituído por 125 entrevistas semiestruturadas com designadores e nomeados com nomes justapostos nascidos entre a década de 1930/1940 e 2010 no munícipio de Marechal Cândido Rondon - PR. Parte-se da ideia de que os antropônimos são escolhidos a partir de crenças, valores e gostos daqueles que nomeiam (VAN LANGEDONCK, 2007).

Recreational Novelty and Aesthetic Motives: Relationship with Hedonia in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Recreational Novelty and Aesthetic Motives: Relationship with Hedonia in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Bard goes to Bollywood: Hamlet and Haider between mirrors

Este artigo discute o filme indiano Haider (2014), de Vishal Bhardwaj, que é uma adaptação da peça Hamlet (1604-5/2016), de William Shakespeare, e do romance Curfewed Night (2008), de Basharat Peer. Haider torna as lutas políticas da Caxemira na década de 1990 um espelho para os conflitos presentes no Hamlet elisabetano. Buscamos identificar na obra de Bhardwaj algumas das motivações políticas, culturais e estéticas que podem estar intrinsecamente relacionadas à reescrita indiana. Ao traçar alguns dos marcos culturais e das mudanças narrativas entre a peça e o filme, nossa análise tenta enfatizar que os contextos sociais e culturais, além dos aspectos linguísticos-textuais, são essenciais na criação das reescritas.

The Giant Mountains – as beautiful as the Alps. The origins of the aesthetic discovery of mountains in the Central European context

ABSTRACT This article examines the aesthetic motivation behind the inception of tourism in the mountains. Aesthetic motives played a key role in the development of tourism in the Alps, which in the eighteenth century became a new, ideal type of landscape and a popular destination for artists and scientists, and later for tourists too. What form did this phenomenon take in a different geographical and cultural context? What were its dynamics and specific features? The article traces these motives by analysing texts on the Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge, Krkonoše, Karkonosze), which became a favourite destination for tourists from the German states and the Austrian Empire. At the time these mountains were compared with the Alps, and this article aims to analyse the parallels and differences between the aesthetic appreciation of the Alps and of the Giant Mountains. Together with scientific interest, aesthetic concerns also played an important role in the inception of tourism here. We can see a reflection of contemporary theories of the Sublime and the Picturesque, as well as the ascent of romanticism. The article works with sources from the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, supplementing them with a summary of subsequent developments in the twentieth century.

The semantics of the traditional women's headscarf as a source of modern design innovations

The purpose of the article is to reveal the influence of the semantic-symbolic system of traditional women's clothing on the formation and development of trends in a modern design using the example of a scarf. Methodology. Comparative-historical and historical-typological methods have been applied in order to identify the tendency in the development of a headscarf as an element of a woman's costume; the hermeneutic method, which helped to understand and interpret signs and symbols as components of traditional culture; systemic method (for considering the system of symbols of a woman's headscarf as a cultural and artistic phenomenon); the method of art history analysis (according to M. Bakhtin and A. Losev); a method of a functional nature (for identifying the main functions of the elements of a semantically sign system and revealing their significance for expressing aesthetic, sacred and ethical motives), etc. Scientific novelty. The semantics of the headscarf as an element of the female national costume, the peculiarities of the coloristic and compositional solutions of the decorative design of the female headscarf are investigated, the main ornamental motifs and forms are analyzed in the context of their use in modern design; revealed and substantiated the influence of the semantic-symbolic system of the traditional women's headscarf on the development of modern clothing design; the semantisation of the elements of the system of symbols of the traditional women's headscarf has been carried out; the features of the integration of the elements of the ornament of the traditional national headscarf into the designer clothes of the 20th century are characterized; analyzed the problems of meaning and its expression by means of pictorial and colored symbols in a modern woman's headscarf. Conclusions. Preserving the ancient sacred symbolism of the canvas, characteristic of the mythological consciousness, as well as mastering the centuries-old experience of Christian understanding, the headscarf has remained an integral part of the traditional female costume for many centuries. In the design of the 21st-century women's scarf. semiotics of color is actively used, which acts as a symbolic guideline for associations that have developed in history, culture, and philosophy. Floral images are the aesthetic value of the subject environment and are realized in the process of artistic creativity of designers, enriching the aesthetics of human ecological space. At the present stage, the appeal of domestic clothing designers to the ethnic style makes it expedient to deepen the understanding of its semantical sign system. Revealing the peculiarities of the semiotics of the color of a traditional Ukrainian women's headscarf, research and analysis of its symbolism provide a modern designer with an almost unlimited dimension for creativity and contribute to the strengthening of national self-awareness.