Jesse S.

Seese

ART IN A SOCIAL ROLE

ART IN A SOCIAL ROLE

Same areas of the brain are active when

appraising art and when appraising
objects.

Aesthetic appraisal evolved from object

appraisal.

Major areas of the brain involved in art

appraisal are important for social aspects.

The need has changed from appraising objects

for usefulness to appraising objects for social
needs.

AMBIGUITY

Ambiguity is a very important and

enjoyable aspect of art.
Two Theories:

Opportunity for multiple interpretations, so

the art retains its interest and enjoyment.
Ambiguity is an evolutionary attribute of art.

Safe place for improvement of problem- solving

skills.
Resolving ambiguity in art can be applied to
resolving ambiguity in real life situations.

AMBIGUITY

Role of Ambiguity as a Social Need

The unconscious goals of the artist can be

conveyed to the viewer through ambiguity in
art.

Ambiguous Art Captures Ambiguity in Life.

Ambiguous aspects of life can be captured

and presented to the viewer in a way that
promotes engagement with the ambiguous
aspect.

STYLISTIC PROCESSING

How the viewer perceives an artists

style.
the rendering of the artists style is
very important in how the viewer
processes the art.
Being able to master the artists style
create a rewarding experience.

Jakesch found similar results that people

enjoyed ambiguous art more than non
ambiguous art.

REWARDING EXPERIENCE

Both studies found

Reward centers in the brain are activated

when viewing art.
Not activated when viewing other objects

One of them found

The reward centers become more active

with more mental involvement .

MIRRORING BRAIN ACTIVATION

Viewing painterly abstract art caused

significantly higher brain activity in
viewer.
Activation of he viewers brain is very
similar to artists brain when making
the art.

Art may play a social role because the

artist is able to activate other peoples
brain in a similar manner as their own.

EMPATHETIC RESPONSE

Theory 1

Mirroring brain activity forms a connection

between the viewer and artist.

Theory 2

The portion of the brain most active when

viewing art, is also critically involved in
social cognition and empathy. (Brown,
Gao, Tisdelle, Eickhoff, & Liotti, 2011)

PERCEPTUAL STYLE

How one processes visual stimuli.

Global Style: context in very influensioial

on the perception of the stimuli
Local Style: the stimuli is easily separated
from the context.

The differences in the viewers played

an equaly important role in shaping the
aesthetic experience.

CONTEXT

Appreciation

Understanding

museum context received significantly higher ratings

than lab context
Museum context received moderately higher ratings
lab context

Ambiguity

Received the same rating in both context.

Ambiguous art in the museum context was the favored
Ambiguous art in the lab context was the least favored

CONTEXT

Naturalizing aesthetics asked the

question: why is art set aside from other
objects?

A context that fosters an aesthetic mindset

encourages people to engage more with the
art

Specifically ambiguous art.

Shout out to Jakesch about his theory of

having a safe context to work out ambiguity

The lab was obviously not

AFFECTIVE STATE

The primes had significant effect on

evaluation of the paintings.

Happy primes increased liking for the art

Disgust primes decreased liking for the art.
The viewers were unaware of the primes.

Unconscious experiences of the viewers plays

a role in shaping the aesthetic experience.
An inexhaustible number of factors can alter
affective state including context.

VIEWERS PRIOR EXPERIENCE

Amount of art expertise effected how

the viewers interpreted art.

People with less expertise needed extra

info to increase their enjoyment with the
art.

Personal characteristics, age and

gender, affected how people
interpreted the work.
Every one will have a different
Aesthetic Experience, even with the

ARTIST

Art was a very successful tool

The artistic chooses of the children

conveyed a message to the therapist
The therapist empathized with the children
and better understood their emotions.
Art acted as a mode of communication
allowing the children to express
themselves in a away they may have other
wise not have been able to.

VIEWER

Empathetic Response

Experience

The empathetic response allowed them to filter the images

through their own experiences, and reflect on their situation.

Social Role

Externalize their own emotions and connect with the art

Embodied the cultural and social dynamics, so the reflection

that took place was centered around social aspects.

Rewarding response

This only happened as the women spent time reflecting on

the images and them selves.