Mastering style. Effects of explicit style-related information, art kowledge and affective state on appreciation of abstract paintings.

Author(s)

Benno Belke, Helmut Leder, Dorothee Augustin

Abstract

Recently, Leder, Belke, Oeberst, and Augustin (2004) have proposed a model of aesthetic

experience in which stylistic processing is central for aesthetic experiences of art. Here

we present an empirical study which investigates predictions derived from the model. Using

modern and contemporary abstract paintings we investigated how their appreciation is affected

by style information generalized onto new exemplars of paintings by the same artists.

In accordance with the model¿s predictions, effects of style processing depend on the affective

states of the viewers as well as their ability for cognitive mastery, measured by amount

of expertise. The experiment reveals that the examination of style-related cognitive processes

is important to psychologically understand the affective, cognitive and presumably selfrewarding

aspects of aesthetic experiences.

Organisation(s)

External organisation(s)

Freie Universität Berlin (FU)

Journal

Psychology Science

Volume

Pages

115-134

No. of pages

ISSN

1614-9947

Publication date

2006

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

501001 General psychology

Portal url