Applications for Experimental Aesthetics - Literature review Example

Aesthetics Lecturer: Applications for experimental aesthetics in commercial and clinical contexts Introduction Aesthetics is the study of nature of art, taste and beauty, and appreciation of beauty through the sensory values or sentiments (Henri, 2013). Experimental aesthetics is a psychological field that has its roots from the work of Gustav Theodor Fechner in 19th century and its central part is the analysis of individual experience and behaviors such as perceptions of music, art and modern items such as websites (Henri, 2013). The experimental approach to psychology takes a quantitative, empirical and reductionist approach in analysis of the phenomena since large numbers of objects are used to establish the attribute of the stimulus classes (Abra, 1998). According to the principle of aesthetic middle, people will tolerate most often and for the largest time a certain medium degree of arousal thus making them neither dissatisfied or not over-stimulated by the lack of sufficient occupation’ (Henri, 2013). Another critical principle of this approach is the principle of ‘unitary connection of the manifold’ that points out that pleasing the stimuli must offer a proper balance between complexity (multiplicity of points of attack) and orderliness (unitary connection). In this case, this principles aesthetic pleasure is related to the feelings from the search for meaning in artworks (Wilber, 2000). Daniel Berlyne (1974) pioneered modern experimental aesthetics on based his theoretical model on visual attributes (collative stimuli properties) that include complexity, novelty, incongruity and surprisingly (Henri, 2013). Berlyne has distinguished diversive exploration that occurs when an individual is seeking arousing stimuli due to lack of stimulation and specific exploration that occurs when the individual is trying to understand or make sense of the existing stimulus in order to reduce the uncertainty. Abra (1998) asserts that aesthetic judgment will occur as either hedonic tone or conflict-arousal and arousal that is linked with the specific exploration will increase as the uncertainty increases. On the other side, the increase in uncertainty will increase the hedonic tone or degree of pleasantness up to a certain point then start to decrease thus implying an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship (Wilber, 2000). This relationship demonstrates that people will experience happiness when exposed to intermediate levels of visual stimulation, but not the excessive arousal or stimulation. This suggests that experiment aesthetics in commercial setting will generate high positive judgments if the phenomenon provides intermediate levels of novelty, surprisingly and complexity. On the other side, high or low levels of complexity, surprisingly or novelty is judged as less aesthetic or ugly. Commercial application Experimental psychology will study human mind and behavior to memory, sensation, perception, language and learning. One of the earliest use of experimental aesthetics for the commercial purposes is film and art industry that combines numerous geometrical composition of pictures, colour intensity and expressions to influence the viewers perceptions of beauty or influence the emotions or curiosity of the viewers towards the film (Tzanev, 2009). For instance, scenes of war are aimed at creating high uncertainty and high stimulation thus making the actions of a certain character in the movie or film appear unpleasant to the viewers (Tzanev, 2009). Experimental aesthetics is useful in new product design and development and product advertisements in commercial settings. In commercial advertisements, the experimental aesthetics considers the preferences of colour, the nature of balance in pictures, the compositional geometry, centre of eyes in pictures, and aesthetic attitudes and behaviours towards the commercial advertisements (Wilber, 2000). In this case, experimental aesthetics is critical in consumer psychology since the design of products and choose of the marketing advertisements will influence the perceptions and stimulus of consumers towards the product. Accordingly, aesthetics will influence the consumers’ perception of quality and expected pricing of the product since aesthetically pleasing products or advertisements will be more attractive to the target consumers (Mazzalovo, 2012). The visual stimuli includes the language and symbols lies within the contents of the commercial advertisements such as color, tone, dimension, proportion, and texture of the graphics (Munsterberg, 2006). The judgments regarding the aesthetic value of the products is based on the emotions, senses, subconscious behaviours, values and culture. Manufacturing enterprises wittingly use experimental aesthetics in their packaging to influence the consumers’ perception regarding their eating habits and purchasing behaviour. The number of sackets indicated in the packaging may create perceptions regarding the quantity of items in the package thus when a package indicates a higher number of sackets then the consumers are likely to consumer more of the product (Mazzalovo, 2012). Experimental aesthetics capitalise on the multisensory aspects such as touch and smell to improve the perceptions of quality of their products. For instance, consumers associate high quality cosmetic products with sharp and fascinating smells thus manufacturers of cosmetics will use such smells in order to arise the curiosity of consumers to buy the product. alternatively, the texture of the products and temperature influences the decision to purchase since smooth surfaces for products such as washing machines are associated with high quality thus the aesthetic stimuli and degree of arousal influences the purchase decision. Clinical application Sharma & Sharma, R. (2006) is of the idea that experimental aesthetics is used in the clinical contexts to understand human mental phenomena and use the findings to inform diagnosis and treatments for various social, behavioral and emotional disorders of the patients. According to this approach, health care providers ensure patients remain happy through providing therapies that ensure intermediate levels of stimulation and arousal and minimise the situations that may lead to depression due to over-stimulation of the patient (Munsterberg, 2006). Experimental aesthetics is applicable in clinical setting in conducting of cosmetic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery. According to psychologists, cosmetic surgery has a positive impact of patients since it leads to improved body images and better quality of life thus translating to higher esteem in the society (Myers, 2012). Accordingly, reports indicated that clients dissatisfied with surgeries would request for reconstructive surgery in order to minimise adjustment problems, family problems, self-destructive behaviours and depression. Experimental aesthetic psychologists will facilitate cosmetic dermatology through evaluating the patient’s general personality and demeanor, assessing the patient’s true motive and behavior in order to reveal the psychic disturbance in the patient (Wilber, 2000). The aesthetic psychologists require the patient’s to have a internally derived motive rather than externally derived pressure in order to maintain the personality and self-esteem of the patient after the surgery (Myers, 2012). The search for pleasure is an important aspect of aesthetics and thus mental processes that will influence the aesthetic responses include the sequence, context and intensity of the cosmetic surgery. The high rate of appreciation of cosmetic surgery is explained by the active impulse that seeks new experiences, knowledge and sensations (Bornstein, 1984). Experimental aesthetics is also useful in the healthcare setting since the color and design of the clinical walls and surrounding art influences the perceptions of the patients during the healing process. The art and design of the healthcare must ensure patient’s comfort, enhance confidence and restore self-efficacy through a preferred environment that ensures the patient’s memories, thoughts and emotions enhance the cognitive capabilities (Bornstein, 1984). The psychological control is attained through the physical aesthetics since Senior patients want a health facility where they feel like home and good design enables them to feel the sense of belonging and being in a safe place. Previous research has demonstrated that colours influence the patient’s mood changes and highly saturated colors or very bright colors will create fear and tension. Accordingly, common colours such as blue-green have shown to promote feelings of tenderness and security thus relieving medical situations such as nausea, but adversely affecting certain conditions such as fatigue and sadness (Myers, 2012). In the same case, bright colors are associated with high uncertainty and arousal as accelerates conditions such as anxiety, confusion, depression, and restlessness thus hindering the healing process. Another aspect of the aesthetic design that is associated with uncertainty and arousal is lighting since inappropriate lighting will lead to general inattentiveness and cause headaches thus natural lighting is preferred in the patient rooms. Fluorescent lighting may cause sense of isolation due to high emotional uncertainty while long corridors will increase the patient’s uncertainty. The aesthetic variety in health setting must aim at attaining balance of emotions and ensuring patient has a natural comfortable and relaxed environment that facilitates their wellbeing (Myers, 2012). Conclusion According to experimental aesthetics, people use the attributes of stimuli to determine the meaning of artworks and intermediate stimulation or arousal will lead to highest levels of happiness. Accordingly, individuals try to avoid high levels or lower levels of stimulation since they increase the uncertainty and lead to negative situations such as anxiety and fear. Experimental aesthetics is useful in commercial and clinical contexts since it determines the preferences of colour, proportion of pictures, texture, design, aesthetic attitudes and compositional geometry in determining the stimuli towards beauty, quality and perceptions of value of products. The aesthetics of clinical setting such as lighting intensity, colour on the walls and artwork influences the thoughts and emotions of the patients thus determining their level of arousal towards aggression or calmness. References: Abra, J. (1998). Should psychology be a science? Pros and cons. Westport, CT: Praeger. Bornstein, M.H. (1984). Psychology and its allied disciplines, Vol 1. Chicago: Psychology Press. Henri, P. (2013). Principles of experimental psychology. New York: Routledge. Mazzalovo, G. (2012). Brand aesthetics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Munsterberg, H. (2006). Psychology and life. New York: Cosimo. Myers, C.S. (2012). An introduction to experimental psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sharma, R.N & Sharma, R. (2006). Experimental psychology. New Delhi: Atlantic Press. Tzanev, P. (2009). ‘Psychological approaches to the art history’, Journal of art psychology, Issue 1, 2009, pp 1-9. Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology: consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambhala. Read More