The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Aesthetics and the Arts

This book presents groundbreaking research and thinking on our interactions with artworks, literature, poetry, music, movies, performances, architecture and design.

Pablo P. L. Tinio (Edited by), Jeffrey K. Smith (Edited by)

9781108402675, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 April 2017

646 pages, 41 b/w illus. 6 tables
24.5 x 17 x 3.4 cm, 1.1 kg

'This volume brings together important scholarship and groundbreaking methodological approaches for understanding the fundamental question of how and why art moves us. Although an individual's experience of art is inherently subjective, these collected essays draw on research in psychology and aesthetics to bring new insights to a topic that historically many scholars in the field had considered too indefinable to analyze or quantify.' Kathryn Potts, Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education, Whitney Museum of American Art

The psychology of aesthetics and the arts is dedicated to the study of our experiences of the visual arts, music, literature, film, performances, architecture and design; our experiences of beauty and ugliness; our preferences and dislikes; and our everyday perceptions of things in our world. The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Aesthetics and the Arts is a foundational volume presenting an overview of the key concepts and theories of the discipline where readers can learn about the questions that are being asked and become acquainted with the perspectives and methodologies used to address them. The psychology of aesthetics and the arts is one of the oldest areas of psychology but it is also one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas. This is a comprehensive and authoritative handbook featuring essays from some of the most respected scholars in the field.

Part I. Concepts, Theories and Methods: 1. Introduction by the editors Jeffrey K. Smith and Pablo P. L. Tinio
2. Empirical aesthetics: hindsight and foresight Oshin Vartanian
3. Philosophy of art and empirical aesthetics: resistance and rapprochement William P. Seeley
4. Theoretical foundations for an empirical aesthetics Gerald C. Cupchik
5. Aesthetics assessment Aaron Kozbelt and James C. Kaufman
Part II. Perspectives and Approaches to Art and Aesthetics: 6. Beyond perception: information processing approaches to art appreciation Helmut Leder
7. Psychodynamics and the arts Pavel Machotka
8. Evolutionary approaches to art and aesthetics Marcos Nadal and Gerardo Gómez-Puerto
9. The walls do speak: psychological aesthetics and the museum experience Pablo P. L. Tinio, Jeffrey K. Smith and Lisa F. Smith
Part III. Objects and Media: 10. Empirical investigation of the elements of composition in paintings: a painting as stimulus Paul J. Locher
11. 'Mute, motionless, variegated rectangles': aesthetics and photography I. C. McManus and Katharina Stöver
12. Aesthetic responses to design: a battle of impulses Paul Hekkert
13. From music perception to an integrative framework for the psychology of aesthetics Stefan Koelsch
14. Theater and dance: another pathway to understanding human nature Thalia R. Goldstein and Rebecca Yasskin
15. Arts education, academic achievement and cognitive ability Swathi Swaminathan and E. Glenn Schellenberg
16. Aesthetics and the built environment: no painting or musical piece can compare Andréa Livi Smith
17. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all? Influencing factors and effects of facial attractiveness Gernot Gerger and Helmut Leder
18. An aesthetics of literary fiction David Carr
Part IV. Contemporary Issues and Debates: 19. Neuroaesthetics: descriptive and experimental approaches Anjan Chatterjee
20. How emotions shape aesthetic experiences Stefano Mastandrea
21. Unusual aesthetic states Emily C. Nusbaum and Paul J. Silvia
22. Personality and aesthetic experiences Viren Swami and Adrian Furnham
23. Hokusai and Fuji: cognition, convention and pictorial invention in Japanese pictorial arts David Bell
Part V. Pulling it All Together: 24. And all that jazz: rigour and relevance in the psychology of aesthetics and the arts Pablo P. L. Tinio and Jeffrey K. Smith.

Subject Areas: Psychology [JM], The arts: general issues [AB]