Memory integration
Embodied simulation
Emotional resonance
Initial classification
An information processing account of art appreciation denoting self and other referential processing as well as the immediate and longitudinal socio-epistemic outcomes. Note that this table lists factors and processing mechanisms relevant to art appreciation but does not highlight the temporality or connectivity between the factors. For a review of models that differ on these dimensions, see Pelowski et al. ( 2016 ) .
Below, we start by framing the arts as social practices that are embodied, enactive, and communicative. Although our art as social practice organization is not in contrast to information processing accounts, it importantly allows us to focus empirical evaluations on the cluster of skills that are developed through art appreciation. Among these skills, we focus specifically on those we refer to as socio-epistemic, and demonstrate that self- and other-understanding are both socially relevant and meaningfully cultivated through sustained art engagement.
We begin by situating arts engagement, and specifically art appreciation, as a communicative, dialogic, dynamic, and transformative practice rather than as passive contemplation of beautiful, pleasurable, or otherwise aesthetically interesting objects. We argue that an “art as social practice” framing like this raises more relevant, interesting, and psychologically rich questions about the arts than does the traditional framing of art appreciation as reducible to aesthetic experience.
In Art Rethought: The Social Practices of Art (2015), Wolterstorff argues that we should adopt MacIntyre's account of social practices as a framework for understanding the nature of the arts (Wolterstorff, 2015 ). MacIntyre ( 1984 ) defines social practices as:
…coherent and complex form[s] of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved, are systematically extended (p. 187).
As forms of human cooperative activity, they exist within social groups, both large and small, and persist through time. Consider, for example, the social practice of portraiture, a genre of painting which depicts a human subject, often in which the face is the main theme. This genre has existed historically across many, varied communities, and the genre develops and is shaped by the cultural, economic, and moral commitments of various social groups, in addition to the artistic styles and technological developments within these communities. “Painting a portrait” is done with respect to norms, standards, and expectations of the genre that are, in an important sense, public. Moreover, these norms and standards constitute criteria for having created an excellent portrait. That is, we can individually and collectively deliberate and debate about whether some particular artwork is a portrait, or is a good portrait. Furthermore, accomplishments such as ‘mastering the ability to depict a complex emotional expression in a two-dimensional medium’ (Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa ), or ‘successfully communicating the cruelty of poverty and dignity of poor people by rendering sympathetically and beautifully the humanity of someone who is poor’ (e.g., Dorothea Lange's, Migrant Mother ), are goods that can only be achieved through the practice of portraiture. Finally, the genre, itself, develops throughout time, within different communities. There are innovations in portraiture with respect to artistic style and with respect to technology. Consider, for example, how Henri Matisse's Green Stripe (Portrait of Madame Matisse) both radically departs from and conforms to the norms of the practice, or how the invention of photography changes and informs the meaning of “creating a portrait.” Matisse's innovation and the development and use of photography for artistically depicting human faces, both enrich our understanding of the aims of art and the possibilities of human experience.
By following this emphasis on the arts as practices, we mean to shift attention to art creation and art appreciation as activities “we do,” from the conception of art appreciation as passive reception of perceptual information from art-objects. In doing so, we do not commit ourselves to any particular theory or definition of art, be it the institutional view (Danto, 1964 ; Dickie, 1974 ), which holds that artworks are artifacts that have been identified as such by persons appropriately situated with respect to “the artworld,” 2 or the historical (Levinson, 1979 ) or narrative views (Carroll, 1988 ), which hold that artworks can be identified by relationships to existing artworks. Instead, we follow these traditions, and others in anthropology and sociology (e.g., Becker, 1982 ; Dissanayake, 1990 ; Gell, 1998 ; Harrington, 2004 ), in their recognition that both arts appreciation and art creation, whatever they may be, are culturally situated within human communities 3 . We contend that this very foundational and basic recognition is largely absent or significantly downplayed in current empirical work, and it is this sense of social—longstanding practices, embedded in the fabric and life of communities—that is foundational to our proposed framework.
One model for how to understand art appreciation as active engagement in a practice can be found in Kieran ( 2012 ). There, he argues that art appreciation is an intrinsically valuable skill that allows one to cultivate “excellences of character,” because practiced arts engagement allows one to better imagine and critically examine not only aesthetic qualities of artworks, but also “artistic originality, emotional expression, insight and moral understanding.” (p. 23) This notion of skill has a few different features that matter a great deal to an expanded empirical research program: (1) art appreciation is learned through sustained practice, suggesting its intrinsic relationship to the culture and community, or, at least, to other people; (2) is a capacity that is developed over non-trivial lengths of time; and (3) may be relevant to other domains, as skills can be transferable.
Drawing from other philosophical literature on art appreciation, we see a focus on what we refer to as socio-epistemic skills. Included in this category may be capacities like good judgment, richer sensitivity to detail, or, following Hume, “delicacy of imagination, good sense, comparative experience, and freedom from prejudice” (Kieran, 2012 , p. 23). What makes these skills social is their relationship to one's ability to better understand oneself and other people, and to potentially revise one's own moral, political, or social commitments 4 . Although the mechanism for enhanced understanding of self and others is not fully theorized in the philosophical literature, it is often taken to be developing a kind of sensitivity to detail, context, or nuance (e.g., Murdoch, 1970 ; Nussbaum, 1990 ; Carroll, 1998 ).
Empirical research complements the philosophical framework above by helping us understand the mechanisms that underwrite the particular socio-epistemic skills of other-understanding and self-understanding 5 . We choose to highlight self-understanding and other-understanding because they align well with what many think of art appreciation as doing: helping them see others and the world from a different point of view, altering their perspectives, and helping them to understand more about themselves (e.g., what moves them, or what makes them uncomfortable). At the same time, we do not mean to commit to any specific or direct causal pathways between cognitive processes, art appreciation, and other- or self-understanding. Rather, we mean to identify this as an open area of much needed investigation.
Before turning directly to this discussion, we also note that embracing this theoretical shift toward understanding the arts as social practices would allow us to explain how art appreciation is partially constitutive of living a flourishing human life. A longstanding empirical program has been to connect the arts (both appreciation and creation) to happiness, well-being, or flourishing. For instance, Cuypers et al. ( 2012 ) demonstrate through a large-scale population study that both art appreciation and art creation are associated with increased well-being (as measured by perceived health, life satisfaction, and anxiety and depression scores). Philosophical conceptions of eudaimonia contend that a flourishing human life centrally involves, at least, the use of skills or excellences of character the development of which are intrinsically rewarding, and the exercise of which are, thereby, pleasurable. Thus the shift we are recommending does not discount previous research, but rather, locates and explains the liking, preference, and pleasure responses to art-objects as well as the experience of being moved, as important aspects of the skill-based conception of art appreciation. This also allows us to strengthen arguments for the value of the arts that does not embrace crass instrumentalism, but rather, is capable of explaining the central role of the arts in human life (Kieran, 2012 ). Moreover, regardless of whether one is committed to the broader eudaimonistic theory of well-being, or the claim that the development of human excellences and skills is central to that flourishing, those who hold that art appreciation is capable of developing the capacities and related skills of other-understanding and self-understanding are making empirical claims that empirical aesthetics can evaluate. To that end, a complete model of aesthetic appreciation will also need to contend with these claims and find a place for these socio-epistemic “outputs” in their models.
In the sections that follow, we use philosophical discussions to frame and suggest two lines of empirical inquiry within this theoretical orientation of the arts as social practices. The first, self-understanding, discussion of which is nascent in both the psychological and philosophical literatures, asks whether and how art appreciation as a practice can lead to a richer understanding and appreciation of one's own moral values, commitments, and conception of who and what one is. The second, other-understanding, more fully developed in both literatures, asks whether and how art appreciation as a practice can lead to a better understanding of the emotional and cognitive states of others, and the potential moral and social value of such an understanding. We conclude with a discussion of how such a research program may be envisioned and developed moving forward.
As discussed above, in this section we attempt to lay a foundation for a line of inquiry into how self-understanding may be enhanced by engaging in practices of art appreciation, as part of our suggestion that conceptualizing the arts as social practices would be an appropriate and fruitful framework for psychologists and neuroscientists to embrace.
In philosophy, the term “self-knowledge” often refers to knowledge of one's own mental states—that is, knowledge of our own beliefs, thoughts, or sensations. In contrast, “knowledge of the self” can refer to knowledge or understanding of one's “self” and its nature. Following Gertler ( 2015 ), we may include under this heading four different debates about our understanding of ourselves, as selves: the nature of self-identification (i.e., one's ability to distinguish one's self from others); whether self-awareness is a mechanism for grasping the nature of the self; whether self-awareness is a means to grasping one's personal identity over time; and, whether and what sort of self-understanding is necessary for rational or moral agency.
Insofar as engagement with the arts is able to enhance some notion of self-understanding, it fits most comfortably within this final debate: the sort of self-understanding necessary for rational or moral agency. Martin ( 1985 ), providing one way of enriching this “necessary for agency” conception, claims that self-understanding is an achievement . He explains that developing a “justifiable and meaningful perspective on our lives” often calls for “appropriate adjustments in attitude, emotion and conduct,” and realizing these things is something that we work for, or that we strive to accomplish. (p. 2) Relevant to this kind of self-understanding is what we may refer to as “self-identity”—“individuals' subjective senses of who they are—their own self-images” (Martin, 1985 , p. 5). Further, we may consider the heart of self-identity as a set of commitments or values—be they intellectual, artistic, moral, or religious—that organize individuals' behavior, attitudes, and beliefs. Someone who has proper self-understanding not only recognizes and affirms her central commitments and values, but also acts and feels according to these commitments and values. In this way self-understanding is a socio-epistemic skill because one's ability to recognize and act on her central values (e.g., feel and act compassionately) concerns a social ability. The content of the values or commitments substantially refer to other people, institutions, histories, and communities, and the attitudes and behaviors indicated are learned and exhibited within communities and relationships.
Philosophers who defend the view that art appreciation is a form of moral understanding can inform our conception of how art appreciation may enhance self-identity and self-understanding. A particularly influential view is Noël Carroll's clarificationism (Carroll, 1988 ). Unlike the sciences, which allow individuals to acquire new propositional knowledge, Carroll argues art appreciation is capable of deepening our existing knowledge, something he refers to as “understanding.” Carroll suggests that the narrative arts, in particular, encourage us to apply our moral knowledge and emotions to a specific case, which aids in the development of our capacity to manipulate, refine, or clarify what we know, and to then intelligibly apply that knowledge. Carroll uses the example of Crime and Punishment to explain this point. It would be absurd to claim that the reader learns the truth of the proposition “murder is wrong” from her reading of the novel. In fact, it may be that a reader would already need to have this bit of propositional knowledge in order to make sense of the novel in the first place. Yet, engagement with the novel can be a source of moral understanding and self-development. Engagement may help give shape to, clarify, or deepen one's understanding of the horror of killing, and of the nature or importance of guilt, redemption, and moral character. Moreover, insofar as these moral beliefs and values are part of the central commitments and values that constitute your self-identity, engagement with the novel can help you know yourself better.
That art is a context for deepening understanding rather than gaining propositional knowledge is also taken up by Lopes ( 2005 ). There he argues that the kind of seeing (“seeing-in”) cultivated by practiced visual art engagement enriches moral sensibility by enriching the suite of intellectual resources that make the viewer reliable at discriminating morally relevant features of situations. (p. 180) Part of the moral sensibility Lopes describes includes what he refers to as a repertoire of moral concepts (e.g., solidarity, grief, violation). Some visual art, though not all according to Lopes, can be used to deepen and understand those concepts. In this way, some visual art can communicate moral ideas in new or challenging or poignant ways that cause one to revise an important or closely held moral value, and thus, can be important to developing one's self-understanding.
Although the philosophical discussion of self-understanding or transformation through engagement with the arts primarily concerns moral or social knowledge, we see no reason to believe it must be limited to these contexts. The focus on moral knowledge in the philosophical literature may be occasioned by the felt need to distinguish the arts from the sciences as a means of knowing, as the latter tend not to have this moral or social focus 6 . However, we may think of the arts as a path to non-moral self-understanding as well, or, as above, as about non-moral yet central commitments and understandings important to our self-identity. For example, the works displayed during the 2013–2014 Los Angeles County Museum of Art retrospective of the work of Light and Space artist James Turrell, were described by many (critics and lay people alike) as transformative . The immersive light environments cause one's own perception to become the object of reflection, and led many to a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationship to the external world, deepening their conception of themselves as embodied beings whose access to the world is mediated by a visual perceptual faculty with particular features, limitations, and abilities, and of light, itself, as a physical substance. This fact (that perception is mediated by light) is not one that people learn from this exhibit; people learn that in middle school science classes. But being confronted with artistic works that exploit and make manifest this fact nevertheless affords viewers an understanding of the significance of this fact.
As in the philosophical literature, there also seems to be limited work in the psychological literature focused on the importance of art engagement in cultivating self-understanding, although research on self-reflection may speak to the psychological mechanisms that make possible the socially-relevant conception of self-identity as described above. Following Koopman and Hakemulder ( 2015 ), self-reflection refers to “thoughts and insights on oneself, often in relation to others and/or to society” (p. 82). This type of introspection often relates to one's emotions (e.g., monitoring current states and/or comparing those states to prior states), memories, values, and beliefs, and is associated with positive consequences (e.g., better mental health, well-being, increased capacity for self-regulation).
The literary arts are a domain in which self-reflection has received more comprehensive attention. Koopman and Hakemulder review evidence suggesting that self-reflection is elicited when one reads literary texts characterized by unconventional syntax or semantic features. Specifically, they review empirical work showing that self-reflection occurs in scenarios in which “(i) [reader's] previous personal experiences are evoked by descriptions of characters, places and events, (ii) [in which] readers experience emotional responses to the characters, and (iii) [in which] readers perceive the text itself, the artifact, as striking” (p. 95). Self-reflection elicited through reading in these contexts is likely to relate to one's self-understanding and identity both in moral and non-moral contexts. Similarly, some members of the medical community have embraced the idea that the literary and narrative arts facilitate self-reflection. Brady et al. ( 2002 ) posit that practicing self-reflection outside of a clinical context, and particularly through art appreciation, could lead to better doctor-patient relationships and, thereby, better patient outcomes.
With respect to visual art, research in neuroaesthetics has also suggested that when engaging with artworks that are emotionally moving and potentially transformative, individuals may have an inward, self-reflective focus. Here, being moved refers to “intensely felt responses [such as tears or chills] to scenarios that have a particularly strong bearing on attachment-related issues—and hence on prosocial bonding tendencies, norms, and ideals—ranging from the innermost circle of one's personal life … to higher-order entities of social life (one's country, social and religious communities)” (Menninghaus et al., 2015 , p. 8; see also Hanich et al., 2014 ; Wassiliwizky et al., 2015 , 2017a ). Recent work by Wassiliwizky et al. ( 2017b ) suggests, for example, that poetry containing a socio-cognitive component (e.g., prose addressing other people or personifying nature) is particularly moving, leading to chills and a response in brain areas involved in self-reflection (e.g., precuneus). When an artwork moves a beholder, she likely experiences an intense emotional response as well as explicitly reflects on her experience, potentially exercising self-understanding (as well as other-understanding, which we expand on in the next section). In this way, understanding the experience of being moved (rather than just focusing on aesthetic evaluation) indicates a promising avenue of research for neuroaesthetics to develop in line with our recommendation to adopt a social practice model.
Indeed, Vessel et al. ( 2012 , 2013 ) have demonstrated that during intensely moving aesthetic experiences, the default mode network—a network of brain areas including the precuneus, medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal cortex, and medial temporal cortex known to be involved in self contemplation, self reflection, and self-referential thought—is recruited. In Vessel et al.'s ( 2012 , 2013 ) studies, participants were tasked with attending to a set of visual artworks and judging how moving each one was while their brain activity was recorded in a scanner. Their finding that DMN activity was higher for artworks rated as highly moving relative to those rated lower on the scale may be interpreted as an inward, self-reflective focus that co-occurs with or is prompted by being emotionally moved. Additionally, this finding is consistent with research demonstrating that the DMN is recruited during other self-referential types of tasks involving self-identity (namely, making judgments about yourself or close others), moral decision-making, and theory of mind attributions (Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004 ; Northoff et al., 2006 ).
Psychologists have also described models that center the idea that art appreciation recruits metacognitive processes and promotes self-reflection and transformation. For example, Pelowski and Akiba ( 2011 ) (see also Pelowski, 2015 ; Pelowski et al., 2017 ) argue that influential empirical studies of aesthetic experience focusing on understanding the processes which lead to cognitive mastery of an artwork along with perceptual pleasure are “often divorced from a viewer's personal beliefs and identity” and “preclude the possibility for art to [truly] mark and transform lives” (p. 81) namely because they do not directly address discrepant experiences during an art encounter. According to Pelowski and Akiba's account, the self-reflective processing that occurs when a beholder's expectations have been violated (e.g., confusion about meaning) marks the beginning of a meta-cognitive re-assessment of an artwork, eventually leading to self-schema transformation. Similarly, Lasher et al. ( 1983 ) argue that the arts are central for mental and emotional growth because they offer opportunities for representational conflicts that, when resolved (in their case, often unconsciously) provide a way to restructure and unify initial mental representations. The process of defamiliarization, “becoming unsettled,” and self-reflecting, then may be crucial to deepening self-understanding.
In a more recent paper, Pelowski ( 2015 ) offered an empirical approach to studying art experiences as they relate to self-transformation and understanding. Specifically, Pelowski suggests that feeling like (or actually) crying during an art experience is a physical indicator of self-reflection, shifted perspectives, and self/schema changes. As a first foray into testing his model, Pelowski conducted a series of exploratory studies at several museums collecting both physiological data and self-reports from museum-goers. He demonstrated that feeling like crying while viewing art is correlated to increased self-awareness, feelings of epiphany and insight, as well as to mixed emotions corresponding to being moved. Although his empirical findings are specific to the visual arts, his model broadly appeals to all arts, as tears or chills responses are pervasive across all arts domains (Pelowski, 2015 ). Pelowski's approach is particularly instructive as it offers a means to frame socio-epistemic skills such as self-understanding within information-processing accounts, arguing for the importance of empirically investigating how each processing stage corresponds to self-related outcomes.
Importantly, these ideas are markedly different from the more typical information-processing accounts of aesthetic experience (e.g., Leder et al., 2004 or Chatterjee, 2004 ), which focus more on successful assessment of an artwork's formal information (perceptual and cognitive mastery) in the service of emotional appraisals. This traditional approach de-centers the importance of self-reflection or cognitive growth as an outcome or aspect of art appreciation. In contrast, the paradigm we suggest (which parallels Pelowski's) posits that although detached, the contemplative pleasure, which may be an outcome of art appreciation, is not valuable merely for its own sake, but also instrumentally valuable for deepening one's self-understanding.
Although the reviewed studies are not direct evidence that self-understanding is developed by art appreciation, they suggest, at least, that self-reflection, a process relevant to cultivating self-understanding, is prompted by moving art experiences. More research will be needed to understand the extent to which and how neural mechanisms correlated to self-referential processing are recruited during art appreciation. Candidate regions for investigation are those within the cortical midline structures including the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) implicated in the continuous representation of self-referential stimuli and in processing emotional stimuli independent of sensory modality, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) implicated in evaluation of self-referential stimuli, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) implicated in monitoring of self-referential information, and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and adjacent precuneus thought to be involved in self-reflection and the integration of self-related representations (e.g., Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004 ). The partially overlapping default mode network as described above will also be critical to evaluate in the context of art appreciation.
Turning away from self-understanding, in this section we lay a foundation for a line of inquiry into how other-understanding may be enhanced by engaging in practices of art appreciation. Though here we highlight self- and other-understanding as separate socio-epistemic skills, we also point to the importance of investigating these “outcomes” as highly related. As before, the aim of this section is to build our suggestion that conceptualizing the arts as social practices would be an appropriate and fruitful framework for psychologists to embrace.
Philosophers of art commonly contend that art appreciation enables us to understand others better by encouraging us to take on their viewpoints, to metaphorically take a walk in their shoes, to feel their pain. Through art appreciation we can understand ourselves as connected to one another, by recognizing others' emotions, actions, and perceptions as fundamentally similar to our own, or, more dramatically, by feeling others' emotions. For instance, in Cohen's ( 1993 ) discussion of his ambivalence toward ontological questions about the nature of art and the distinction between high and low art, he describes a memorial service in which his friend's favorite musical selections were played. Reflecting on the meaningfulness and appropriateness of this practice of playing music that someone cared for at their funeral, Cohen writes:
My friend has died and is not present. I listen to music I know he cared for. It is a fact about my friend that he cared for this music, perhaps even a constitutive fact about his sensibility: it partially defines who and what he was. It is, thus, an entrance into that sensibility. I sit listening, not merely thinking that this music meant something to my friend, but bending my imagination to the task of reaching and comprehending an aspect of my friend which responded to this music, that is, feeling what it was to be my friend (p. 154).
Here, Cohen understands artistic appreciation not only as (appropriately) playing a central role in an important social ritual of mourning, but also, or perhaps because it is one way of being in community with someone else. In this case, the mind, sensibility, or self of the person who is no longer present is accessible through attending closely to the music he loved. Similarly, Joseph Conrad characterizes the emotional sharing involved in artistic activity as:
the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable hearts; to the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspiration, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which binds men to each other, which binds together all humanity—the dead to the living and the living to the unborn (cited in Goldie, 2008 , p. 192).
This notion, that the arts are an arena for interaction and potential emotional sharing between artists, beholders, and other past, present, and future beholders has an important history stretching back to at least Tolstoy ( 1899 ), if not to Aristotle.
The kind of interaction or connection art facilitates has been thought to lead to a fuller and morally important understanding of others and oneself. Kieran ( 1996 ) develops a notion of “imaginative understanding,” a skill promoted by the arts, as striving to “appreciate what the appropriate way of looking at and acting in the world is…typically…the appropriate way to feel for, to regard, and to respond to others” (p. 341). In this way, art appreciation, by promoting imaginative understanding, facilitates good moral judgment by enhancing our moral perception and sensibilities, especially with respect to the lived experiences of other people 7 .
Developing a similar line of thought, some scholars have suggested that reading literary fiction creates aesthetic distance, which “allow[s] [readers] to experiment more freely with taking the position of a character different from themselves, also in moral respects” (Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015 , p. 92). That is, the dynamic process occurring during art appreciation is a form of socio-cognitive and emotional training, granting viewers the “time and privacy to learn to deal more strategically with” real life scenarios in a safe, “distant” space (this idea has been discussed by Oatley, 1999 , 2016 ; Robinson, 2005 ; de Botton and Armstrong, 2013 ; Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015 ; Menninghaus et al., 2017 ). Despite this “distance” or, perhaps because of it, one can become deeply invested in fictional characters, emotionally engaging with them, and generating cognitive models of character's minds, just as one does in real social scenarios 8 .
That arts appreciation can deepen one's moral landscape by cultivating other-understanding is an empirical claim with potentially far-reaching consequences 9 . This idea has served as a theoretical foundation for arts-based therapies aimed at developing, for example, autistic children's social skills and theories of mind (see: arttherapy.org). Perhaps most robustly, as we briefly mentioned, in recent decades medicine has increasingly turned to the arts to help students and professionals cultivate proper self- and other-regarding dispositions (Shapiro et al., 2009 ). For example, Columbia University's Masters of Science curriculum in Narrative Medicine uses the arts and humanities to “imbue patient care and professional education with the skills and values of narrative understanding” (see: http://ce.columbia.edu/narrative-medicine ). Some have suggested that arts-based interventions help physicians become more empathic and culturally-sensitive, which then leads to better patient health outcomes (e.g., Novack et al., 1997 , pp. 502–509), whereas others have focused on the importance of reflection and imagination for developing insight, emotional understanding of patients, or other valuable “patterns of knowing” (e.g., Berragan, 1998 ; Rodenhauser et al., 2004 ; Averill and Clements, 2007 ).
These theoretical applications demonstrate the importance of reviewing the available empirical evidence that aligns with an argument that art appreciation cultivates other-understanding, the importance of understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying other understanding, as well as the importance of establishing norms for empirically investigating more fully the socio-epistemic outcomes and values of art appreciation.
Psychological research suggests that there are (at least) two related ways we can come to understand other people and their experiences: (i) cognitively, and (ii) emotionally “resonating” with others' experiences. Cognitive empathy, also often called “cognitive perspective-taking,” “theory of mind,” “mentalizing,” or “mindreading,” 10 refers to an individual's capacity to model others' experiences by making inferences about their intentions and predictions about future actions based on that mental representation. Although this cognitive process reflects one's capacity to model other people's minds, it crucially does not require emotional investment (e.g., I may understand that you are anxious but I do not feel that way myself).
Another way, then, to understand other people is to have an “insider” view by actually experiencing what the other person is experiencing. This “catching” of another person's experience is what most scholars refer to as empathy. Although there are many definitions for empathy in the psychological and philosophical literature (see Batson, 2009 ), most scholars broadly agree that there are two key criteria characterizing empathic responses. Firstly, empathy involves an affective capacity to recognize and resonate with others' emotions (also widely called “emotional contagion” or “affect sharing”). The affective response should be isomorphic with another person's affective state (Eisenberg and Fabes, 1990 ; De Vignemont and Singer, 2006 ). That is, one must experience the same emotion as another person, rather than simply respond emotionally to someone else's emotion (e.g., happiness in response to someone else's misfortune would not be isomorphic). This isomorphism is emphasized in the literature as distinct from related phenomena such as sympathy, which may be emotionally powerful but is usually thought of as feeling “for” rather than feeling “with.” Secondly, empathy should involve an awareness of the source of one's affective response; that is, a mechanism to distinguish between self and other. Imitation or emotional contagion alone, seen even in young infants, does not then reflect empathy (e.g., De Vignemont and Singer, 2006 ), as true empathy requires a more developed sense of self, agency, and other. Here, we will refer to this process as affective empathy.
Echoing the philosophical discussion above, a wide empirical research program has suggested the social and moral importance of both affective empathy and cognitive empathy, arguing that they are critical for social development and successful social interaction. Individuals with impaired (or a lack of) affective empathy are often characterized as psychopathic (e.g., Hare, 1991 as cited in Blair, 2005 ), and individuals with impaired theory of mind, a characteristic of autism, exhibit a host of social deficits including difficulties communicating, understanding others' thoughts and desires, recognizing and imitating others' facial expressions, among other issues (e.g., Blair, 2005 ). Moreover, although there might sometimes be negative consequences of increased empathy (e.g., favoring social “in-groups”; in Bloom, 2017 even goes to suggest that empathy has more costs than benefits), cognitive and affective empathic capacities in many ways provide a foundation for moral behaviors (Decety and Cowell, 2015 ). For instance, even short-term manipulations of cognitive perspective-taking can lead to increased feelings of social affiliation, perceived similarity, perceived closeness, intergroup understanding, desire to engage in intergroup contact, and to prosocial behaviors such as increased cooperation, sharing, comforting, and helping even in situations where prosocial attitudes might be more difficult to adopt (e.g., Stephan and Finlay, 1999 ; Bodenhausen et al., 2009 ; Wang et al., 2014 ) 11 .
In addition to its social importance, empathy provides an individual with knowledge about the environment without having to actually experience it oneself; for example, seeing someone get burned when they touch a hot stove or get bruised when they fall on a pavement is informative enough to attach appraisals to those situational contexts without having to experience the pain oneself (De Vignemont and Singer, 2006 ). This characteristic of empathy resonates with the aesthetic distance conception of fiction above, explaining how art appreciation could be a “safe space” for understanding others' difficult or taxing emotional experiences.
If art appreciation indeed enhances other-understanding, it would be reasonable to expect that we would find evidence, at least in some contexts, that engaging with art, be it viewing visual art, reading literature, or listening to music, recruits mechanisms associated with cognitive and affective empathy. For example, there may be evidence demonstrating that the neural mechanisms implicated in affective or cognitive empathy during real social interactions are also engaged when “interacting” with visual art or with fictional characters. Furthermore, art appreciation should mirror findings within the social interaction literature, such that after art-appreciation-based manipulations, we may find increases in self-reported perceived similarity and closeness, and perhaps increased degree of prosocial behavior exhibited toward an individual. Finally, we should expect that repeated “practice” or engagement with arts would develop empathy, perhaps changing aspects of one's disposition, personality, and capacity to empathize in future situations. Below, we review empirical evidence in line with each of these predictions, with the aim of demonstrating the promise and possibilities of the shift to a social practice framework in neuroaesthetics.
Some researchers within neuroaesthetics have begun to reconsider arts engagement as a fully embodied, enactive experience (e.g., Freedberg and Gallese, 2007 ; Nadal et al., 2012 ), with empirical evidence suggesting the involvement of neural processes related to both perspective-taking and affective empathy during art appreciation. One such model of the role of embodied responses to visual arts is presented by Freedberg and Gallese ( 2007 ). They suggest that embodied responses occurring during art appreciation are forms of cognitive and affective simulations and, as such, play a role in facilitating an understanding of both the representational content of an artwork and of the intentions of the artist. Freedberg and Gallese provide several examples demonstrating that viewers have physical, “felt” responses to visual representations, even if those representations are abstract. For instance, the authors speculate that viewing a painting like Caravaggio's Incredulity of Saint Thomas , in which a man is poking at someone else's wound, or experiencing Michelangelo's Prisoner's , in which the figures appear “trapped” in the material out of which they are sculpted, leads to embodied responses of physical pain in the beholder. Moreover, elements within a visual artwork that simply imply the gestures used by the artist (e.g., canvas cuts as in artist Lucio Fontana's work, or Jackson Pollock's drip paintings) can also strongly activate the motor cortex, and are thus felt by beholders as actions (Battaglia et al., 2011 ; Umilta et al., 2012 ).
More evidence for action simulation during art viewing is provided by Leder et al. ( 2012 ) who demonstrate that we covertly simulate actions produced by a visual artist while we engage with the work. That is, when viewing work by Georges Seurat, for example, we may covertly “stipple” our hands, whereas while viewing art by Vincent Van Gogh, we may covertly create broader strokes with our hands. Interestingly, when the researchers experimentally manipulated participants motions to either be explicitly aligned or misaligned with painting style, preference scores were affected. That is, participants in congruent groups (stippling while viewing works in the Pointillist tradition or stroking while viewing works with strong brushstrokes) reported liking the artworks more than those in incongruent groups suggesting that incongruent motions interfered with motor resonance (Leder et al., 2012 ). Researchers have similarly discussed the role of embodiment with respect to music as well as the literary arts. For instance, research has demonstrated that we develop embodied understanding of characters within a literary text (for comprehensive reviews see Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015 ; Oatley, 2016 ). One such example is seen in Hsu et al. ( 2014 ) who demonstrate that immersion or “getting lost in” emotion-laden literary text—in their case, fear-inducing compared to neutral excerpts from the Harry Potter series—leads to increased activation of the medial cingulate cortex, a structure associated with affective empathy.
Together, this research suggests that engagement with visual art may prompt beholders to mentally simulate artists' actions, and to “feel” the actions and emotions depicted in a work. Although we do not mean to suggest that simulation alone implies social understanding, as is evidenced by the fact that even very young infants (or primates) imitate without a developed theory of mind (e.g., Heyes, 2001 for review) it seems to have clear social value . Thus, embodied responses (what some refer to as “feeling into” art) may prompt meaning-making and explicit reflection (e.g., Pelowski, 2015 ). Importantly however, the extent to which mirroring, simulation, and empathy affect art appreciation and even aesthetic evaluation remains understudied.
The neural processes that are implicated in embodied emotion and action simulation, namely a medial frontotemporal network involving recruitment of the bilateral anterior insula, the dorsal and middle anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), as well as a mirror-neuron system (MNS), are implicated in empathy and theory of mind, and are important for representing both our own and others' actions (e.g., Decety and Grèzes, 2006 ). For example, Wicker et al. ( 2003 ) show that overlapping areas of the ACC are activated when one is imagining, observing, and expressing a disgusted facial expression. Similarly, Morrison et al. ( 2004 ) showed overlapping activation in the anterior insula and ACC both when a person was in physical pain and when she was viewing someone else in pain 12 . These responses can be modulated by a variety of factors, including dispositional/trait empathy, relationship between empathizer and target, situational context, and emotional context (e.g., De Vignemont and Singer, 2006 ). For example, in one study, electromyography was used to demonstrate that people with high affective trait empathy were more likely to automatically imitate happy and angry pictures of faces during passive viewing than people with low affective trait empathy (Rymarczyk et al., 2016 ).
With respect to visual art, a recent study similarly showed that trait empathy correlated to both physiological (facial electromyography and skin conductance responses) and behavioral responses to art (valence, preference, interest) (Gernot et al., 2017 ). Specifically, they showed that individuals who are high in emotion contagion are more moved by, interested in, and enjoy visual art. These high emotion contagion individuals also reacted more strongly to emotion congruent aspects of the visual art (e.g., they smiled while engaging with positive valence work and frowned when engaging with negative valence works). Similar findings have been reported within music, in which individual differences in empathetic capacities relate to understanding and interpretation of emotional expressivity and intentionality in music (Wöllner, 2012 ; Baltes and Miu, 2014 ). In this way, the empirical evidence points to a role for empathy in synchronizing emotion-relevant perceptions and actions among individuals, perhaps for understanding others more effectively, a skill art engagement may facilitate.
Another important set of neural structures—specifically within a lateral frontotempoparietal network (relevant regions include: lateral and medial PFC, lateral and medial parietal cortex, and medial temporal lobe, temporoparietal junction, and posterior superior temporal sulcus)—have been shown to correlate with tasks related to cognitive empathy such as action observation, imitation, self-recognition, impersonal moral and social reasoning, reappraisal by focusing on physical events, and categorizing affect in facial expressions (e.g., Lieberman, 2007 ). There is also a connection between this network and the mirror neuron network discovered in primates. In primates, mirror neurons activate both when the primate performs a goal-directed action and when it observes the experimenter performing the same action (Gallese et al., 1996 ). In humans, homologous regions of cortex (premotor cortex, LPFC, LPAC, DMPFC) similarly respond both to action observation and to imitation (e.g., Carr et al., 2003 ). Along with the regions that are implicated in embodied emotion and action simulation described above, these structures may be target regions of interest for neuroaesthetics.
The evidence linking neural processes recruited during other-understanding to art appreciation as reviewed above is promising. Perhaps the mirror neuron system (and other neural processes related to mentalizing as reviewed above) play an important role in enabling an experiential understanding of the content of a visual artwork as well as some of the artist's intentions (Freedberg and Gallese, 2007 ). Though more research is crucial, the findings up to this point suggest that engaging with art involves processes relevant to the attribution of mental states to others (Steinbeis and Koelsch, 2009 ; Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015 ), and this suggests that art appreciation is deeply connected to other-understanding.
Based on the presented evidence, if cognitive and affective empathic processes are recruited during art appreciation, just as is observed for empathy manipulations, we should observe increases in measures such as self-reported perceived similarity, closeness, or degree of prosocial behavior exhibited toward an individual after arts-appreciation-based manipulations. Again, the literary arts are an example domain where research has been particularly comprehensive. The effect of reading literature, and more specifically, narrative fiction on empathy and other-understanding has recently received widespread attention (see Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015 ; Oatley, 2016 for comprehensive reviews). For example, Kotovych et al. ( 2011 ), find that the “challengingness” of the text, operationalized as the complexity of characters and number of ambiguities in a text, helps readers better identify with, feel more connected to, and understand a character more deeply. One explanation for such an effect is that when a literary text leaves more information about the narrator's mental life implicit and ambiguous, readers may be more likely to draw from their own experiences, resulting in a seemingly stronger connection with and understanding for an individual.
Further, psychologists have demonstrated both correlational and causal effects of reading narrative on various measures of empathy. Measures of empathy in these cases include the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test,” which probes one's ability to discern another individual's thoughts from their eyes alone (RMET; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 ), or the Yoni test, which asks participants to identify others' affective and cognitive states from facial expressions (Shamay-Tsoory and Aharon-Peretz, 2007 ). Researchers have demonstrated that individuals who spend more time reading literary or narrative fiction compared to non-fiction tend to score higher on such tests suggesting that extended “practice” reading narrative fiction may cultivate one's capacity for understanding others (e.g., Mar et al., 2006 ; Panero et al., 2016 ). And, a recent series of experiments by Kidd and Castano ( 2013 ) demonstrated that individuals who were tasked with reading a “literary” short story that is characterized by unconventional syntax, ambiguity, and semantic features scored higher on the RMET and Yoni tasks after the reading exercise compared to those who read a popular fiction or nonfiction short story. This finding demonstrates that even brief exposure to the arts might promote other-understanding.
Importantly, empathy-related processing during arts appreciation across domains (e.g., beyond just the literary arts) also seems to lead to increased prosocial behavior. For example, Sze et al. ( 2012 ) demonstrated that after watching film clips that induced empathetic concern, individuals tended to be more charitable. Interestingly, these prosocial effects were partially mediated by age such that older participants were more charitable than their younger counterparts. Although not directly related to film appreciation per se (as film in this case was merely a stimulus meant to elicit empathetic concern), it is suggestive both of the power of film and the cultivation of prosocial tendencies with art experience. Film's power to move the viewer in this way has also been associated with increased feelings of intergroup connectedness and understanding (Oliver et al., 2015 ). Likewise, some research suggests that chills induced by music lead to more altruistic behavior, though more research is needed to tease apart the influence of factors like mood (Fukui and Toyoshima, 2014 ). Taken together, these findings suggest the importance of a continuing research program on the (pro)social implications of arts engagement.
Although these effects seem promising, many of the claims about empathy cultivated through art appreciation are contested. For instance, some researchers have been unable to replicate the causal effects (most recently, Panero et al., 2016 ), noting, like Bullot and Reber ( 2013 ), that a brief encounter is typically “shallow” and is unlikely to have significant impacts on cognitive or affective empathy. This is not altogether surprising as measures like the RMET are likely relatively stable across time. And, even if it appears that art engagement increases state empathy—that is, empathic responses during the interaction—the single engagement may not cultivate empathy in the long term in real-life scenarios the way that researchers hope. It is not inconceivable that an individual connects to fictional characters described as in a particular situation, but would not connect to real people in that same situation 13 . Furthermore, it is theoretically unclear why individuals who read a story just once, or even those who are well-read, should be better attuned to discriminating facial expressivity per se . Rather, it might be that narrative fiction develops imaginative capacity. In fact, research by Johnson ( 2012 ) finds that reading fiction can actually lead to decreased perceptual accuracy in discriminating fearful emotions. Johnson speculates that such reduced discriminability is likely due to a bias in attributing emotions, particularly ones congruent with a prosocial behavior, to ambiguous expressions. Similarly, research attempting to quantify the effects of both brief and longer-term art encounters on empathy and patient outcomes for medical professionals is contested and still underdeveloped (e.g., Perry et al., 2011 ; Yang and Yang, 2013 ; Kelm et al., 2014 ). Finally, there is conflicting evidence on the extent to which thrills-like responses affect schemas and behavior. For instance, the physical chills response that some individuals report in response to music as well as to visual art and literature does not always seem to differentially affect prosocial behaviors or self concept, relative to artworks that do not elicit chills (Konecni et al., 2007 ). Thus, more empirical studies are needed to systematically address how art appreciation actually affects other-understanding.
We began this section by reviewing philosophical views that hold or imply that art appreciation is socio-epistemically valuable insofar as it cultivates other-understanding through processes like emotional sharing or imaginative understanding. Following these ideas, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun to empirically assess whether and how art appreciation deepens other-understanding. Empirical research has up to this point demonstrated that art appreciation engages similar psychological processes that are involved in social interaction, such as emotional resonance, mental state attribution, and cognitive perspective taking. Furthermore, we reviewed evidence that showed that increased “practice” appreciating the arts, arts-appreciation “interventions” (as in medical school curricula), and even “basic exposure” to the arts (as in Kidd and Castano, 2013 ) increased individual's capacities for other-understanding. Although it is promising, the empirical and philosophical research centered on the relationship between art appreciation and other-understanding is still limited in its scope, quantity, and specificity. Particularly important will be to develop robust (perhaps more longitudinal) methodologies that demonstrate the processes by which arts appreciation cultivates other-understanding as well as its relationship to self-understanding, leading a flourishing life, and other socio-epistemic skills.
In this paper, we aimed to highlight how understanding the power of the arts in our lives requires going beyond the current aesthetics-focused conception of the outcomes of art appreciation. Rather than neuroaesthetics models which focus nearly exclusively on judgments of beauty, preference, or liking as the primary outcomes of art appreciation, we should set ourselves to better understanding the range of socio-epistemic outcomes of such engagement. Here, we have focused on self-understanding and other-understanding as such outcomes, but do not intend to limit the potential of this framework shift to just these outcomes. Rather, we aimed to provide evidence for the fruitfulness of neuroaesthetics adopting a more comprehensive approach to the outcomes of art appreciation that mirror the richer conceptions of art engagement found in philosophy, art history, and art criticism, which understand art as an embodied, enactive, social practice.
Importantly, such an approach does not discount prior empirical research, but refocuses its aim around socio-epistemic skills developed within arts practices. In thinking of the arts as social practices that people engage in, we can come to better understand how they serve a variety of social and cultural values. We hope this approach inspires empirical research to more fully investigate the specific ways in which the processes underlying art engagement cultivate socio-epistemically valuable skills. That is, how do specific emotional experiences lead to self-understanding? To other-understanding? And to other socio-epistemic values? How does engagement with different art forms relate to distinct socio-epistemic values? Does engagement with literary art, for example, more promote a particular set of values, compared to practiced engagement with the visual arts or music?
To answer these questions, researchers will need to go beyond the typical unitary measures of preference after a single exposure, and instead employ more longitudinal designs incorporating both state and trait based measures. Take for example a researcher interested in whether and how engaging with particular form of visual art (e.g., art depicting minority groups such as American Indians) may deepen ones cultural understanding and appreciation. To go beyond standard designs, one might consider (a) encouraging viewers to engage with each artwork for longer periods of time (e.g., at least 1 minute), (b) comparing lab findings to naturalistic settings (e.g., conducting experiments in both settings to determine generalizability of lab results) and (c) combining methodologies (e.g., eye tracking, physiology, EEG, subjective self-reports such as being moved, interest, emotional state, and written reflections). Possible individual difference measures that researchers may employ include tests that measure capacity for cognitive and affective empathy [e.g., the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Lawrence et al., 2004 ), the Interpersonal Reactivity index (IRI; Davis, 1980 ), or the questionnaire of affective and cognitive empathy (QCAE, Reniers et al., 2011 )], tests that measure state and dispositional aspects of self-awareness [e.g., the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan, 2003 ), self concept clarity questionnaires, tolerance for uncertainty, Webster and Kruglanski, 1994 ], tests that measure emotion perception and regulation (e.g., the scale of subjective emotion experience (See; as in Pelowski et al., 2017 ), and subjective self reports relevant to one's art experience including art expertise, interest, reflections and insights. Furthermore, researchers may adopt experimental techniques from the mindfulness and meditation literature, which similarly aims to demonstrate the perceptual, cognitive, and emotional effects of mindfulness practices as compared simply to mindful states. Thus, we see our reframing as an exciting opportunity for researchers to be creative in designs (see Table Table2 2 for examples of open questions).
Open questions.
-understanding? | -understanding? |
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(How) Are the processes relevant to self-understanding (e.g., self-reflection, self-awareness, metacognition, self-concept/schema/belief revision, insight, epiphany) recruited during art appreciation? Do individuals with more art expertise possess stronger self-reflective skills? What brain regions and networks are involved in self-understanding as it relates to art appreciation? A candidate network to investigate is the default mode network (e.g., as reported in Vessel et al., , ), and cortical midline structures (e.g., DMPFC, OMPFC, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, as in Northoff and Bermpohl, ; Northoff et al., ). How do behavioral and physiological outcomes of art appreciation (e.g., being moved, tears, chills, thrills, arousal) indicate self-referential processing and self-understanding? Under what circumstances do processes like self-reflection occur during art appreciation? For example, how do current states, traits, and art content (e.g., style, features, representation) interact to facilitate self-understanding? Are these interactions art-domain specific or general? How might mindset manipulations (e.g., self or other directed focus) during art-appreciation increase self-reflection and understanding? How do other socio-epistemic skills cultivated by art appreciation (see Table 1 for examples) interact with self-understanding? How can cognitive neuroscience and psychology inform art (appreciation) therapies that focus on cultivating self-understanding? How does art creation (or exercising creativity through the arts) relate to the cultivation of self-understanding? Are the processes similar to art appreciation? | (How) Are the processes relevant to other-understanding (e.g., perspective-taking/cognitive empathy, imitation/mimicry, affective empathy/emotional resonance) recruited during art appreciation? Do individuals with more art expertise possess stronger empathetic tendencies? What brain regions and networks are involved in other-understanding as it relates to art appreciation? Candidate systems include the medial frontotemporal network (e.g., anterior insula, dorsal and middle anterior cingulate cortex, VMPFC, human MNS) as well as the lateral frontotempoparietal network (e.g., lateral and medial PFC, lateral and medial parietal cortex, medial temporal lobe, temporoparietal junction, and posterior superior temporal sulcus). What are behavioral and physiological indicators of other-understanding? Examples include emotional resonance (e.g., emotion-congruent expressions as measured by fEMG in Pelowski et al., ), and covert or overt mimicry. How are behavioral and physiological outcomes of art appreciation (e.g., being moved, tears, chills, thrills, arousal) prompted by other-understanding? Menninghaus et al. ( ) suggest films with prosocial elements lead viewers to be moved. How might this generalize to other art-domains? Research shows perspective-taking manipulations lead to increased intergroup understanding and affiliation. How might such manipulations during art-appreciation increase other-understanding? How do other socio-epistemic skills cultivated by art appreciation (see Table 1 for examples) interact with other-understanding? How can cognitive neuroscience and psychology inform art (appreciation) therapies that focus on cultivating other-understanding? |
Outstanding questions for investigating the psychological and neurobiological relationships between self-understanding, other-understanding, and art appreciation .
Further, this kind of “art as social practice” approach encourages scientists to view art engagement, generally, be it appreciating or creating, as a form of knowledge acquisition and production. Although we focused here on art appreciation, we believe our approach generalizes to art creation. Like art appreciation, art making involves practices which integrate embodied and “mental” activities so as to render the two inseparable. In fact, the philosophical and psychological research on creation and creativity recognizes and investigates such processes of creative practice associated with individual development more so than does the research on art appreciation.
Finally, we believe that focusing on the socio-epistemic skills cultivated through art engagement highlights the important role art plays in our lives, and the need to advocate for arts education programs. Through this kind of research program, we should come to better understand the arts as socially valuable. We suggest that empirical research can be used to show that engagement with art has social and personal value, rather than monetary or economic value, the cultivation of which is important to us as individuals, and as communities.
All authors listed have made substantial, direct, intellectual contributions to the work, and approved it for publication.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The authors thank Anjan Chatterjee, Simon Penny, Dylan Sabo, Sarah Ostendorf, Ainsley LeSure, Santiago Mejia, and the two reviewers for their helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this argument.
1 Recent arguments by influential researchers such as Pearce et al. ( 2016 ) suggest that neuroaesthetics is often concerned not with explaining art appreciation, but rather with understanding the aesthetic qualities of objects that include the arts. However, findings within the aesthetic sciences are often used to explain art appreciation, specifically (e.g., Pelowski et al., 2016 published a review article titled “Visualizing the Impact of Art: An Update and Comparison of Current Psychological Models of Art Experience” in which they do just that).
2 While it may be that the kinds of social practices we are talking about relate to “artworld” institutions, practices are logically independent of and prior to institutions (see MacIntyre, 1999 for the relationship between practices and institutions).
3 The kind of theoretical shift we recommend—toward understanding the arts as practices—is also related to Noë's ( 2015 ). There, he develops an account of the arts as organized activities , insofar as they are: (1) natural or primitive, (2) “arenas for the exercise of attention, looking, listening, doing, undergoing” (p. 6), (3) structured and organized in time, (4) emergent, and which (5) have a function and (6) are a source of pleasure for those who engage in them (pp. 4–5). This approach is similar to the social practice account in that it is interested in the role of the arts in structuring a well-functioning or flourishing human life. It differs on the strength of the emphasis placed on the embodied nature of the arts, and in the expressed biological and “natural” interpretation it gives to these practices through the notion of “organizing” that it employs.
4 See Stolnitz ( 1992 ) for discussion of the philosophical debate about aesthetic cognitivism, which is concerned with whether we can learn from or know through art appreciation.
5 In doing so we do not claim that these are the only valuable socio-epistemic skills developed by the social practices of the arts or arts appreciation. For example, the “Seven C's” identified by Koelsch ( 2014 ) (social contact, social cognition, co-pathy, communication, coordination of actions, cooperation, social cohesion) is a taxonomy of what the author refers to as social functions of music. Similarly, other researchers including Panksepp ( 2009 ) highlight the social importance of music evolutionarily, particularly in its capacity to evoke social emotions.
6 Another hypothesis about this focus on moral knowledge may come from the overlap in moral and hedonic processing, evidence for which may be found in Tsukiura and Cabeza ( 2010 ).
7 Kieran's argument draws on the rich discussion of moral understanding and art appreciation, especially that of Iris Murdoch and Martha Nussbaum. Iris Murdoch argued that engagement with and creation of art (especially painting and literature) hone moral perception by tuning the perceiver to the salient features of moral reality; the arts make one's moral perception more discriminating and discerning. That is to say, engagement with the arts develops one's ability to see the world as it truly is, making art “the most educational of all human activities.” (1970) In Love's Knowledge Nussbaum contends that moral imagination, necessary to good moral judgment (and seeing the world as it truly is), is similar to artistic imagination (1990). She explicitly links the type of fine-grained attention to detail and ability to “see” the world in morally complex and nuanced ways cultivated by arts appreciation with the development of self and other-understanding.
8 There is some disagreement among philosophers about what cognitive process best characterizes this emotional-engagement, theorists variably refer to identification, empathy, sympathy, and mental simulation (see Giovannelli, 2005 ).
9 Some researchers have gone so far as to speculate on the socio-cultural benefits of arts engagement in relation to other-understanding. In his book, The Better Angels of our Nature , Pinker ( 2012 ) speculates that a decrease in contemporary violence can be partially attributed to increased literary consumption, relying on the notion that perspective-taking is fundamental to reading literature and that it leads to increased empathy and other-understanding.
10 We gloss over here some of the nuances that distinguish each of these terms. For instance, theory of mind is most often discussed in a developmental context, in contrast to cognitive perspective-taking and cognitive empathy. However, for the most part, they refer to the same/a very similar process.
11 Heyes ( 2001 ) provides an analysis of theories and evidence describing the relationship between imitation, theory of mind, and social cognition. Heyes points out “although it is plausible that the experience of imitating and being imitated contributes to the development of theory of mind, there is not currently a well-supported theory specifying the nature of the contribution” (p. 260).
12 Additionally, Singer et al. ( 2006 ) demonstrated that the proposed neural networks subserving empathy indeed represent “true” empathizing with another person, rather than just imagining one's own emotional experience. They first engaged participants in a game in which confederates played either fairly or unfairly. They then showed the same participants videos of their fair and unfair partners experiencing pain, while simultaneously measuring participants neural activity. Interestingly, all participants empathized with fair players, but only female participants empathized with the pain felt by unfair players experienced. In contrast, males seemed to experience more joy (evidenced by activation of reward circuitry), indicating their seeming desire for revenge against unfair players.
13 Philip Sidney wrote a sonnet about just this point in the 1580s: http://www.bartleby.com/358/46.html
The importance of teaching arts education.
Art has been in existence for since the beginning of human civilisation. The field, in most cases, is viewed as a way of action and knowing. Art has played a key role in the development of human identities. It has also been significant to the evolution of cultural practices in all human societies. Consequently, art is regarded as one of the defining elements of humanity. To some advocates of this field, art is believed to be the window to the soul of humanity. According to Nathan (2008), art is used to communicate and provide a framework for the understanding of passions, emotions, and the enduring conflicts that humans have always indulged in. The scholars who advocate for the centrality of arts in the development of humanity observe that even the cavemen recorded their history, experiences, and events through drawings of pageants that marked the passing of time and seasons (Anderson, 2014).
In this paper, the author explores the importance of art its contribution in the development of cognitive and cultural attributes among children. To this end, the author will demonstrate that art provides human societies with lens through which they can view both historical and contemporary issues. Finally, the paper will be used to support the argument that teaching art processes can improve the ability of students to shape the learning process and the way it is conceived in schools.
Arts are a common feature in both traditional and modern societies. In most traditional communities, trumpets and drums were used to herald the commencement of battle. In addition, birth and death in these societies were received with songs and dance. Consequently, theatre was viewed as an avenue through which solutions to dilemmas faced by mankind were provided. It can also be observed that in most communities, the portraits of heroes, kings, villains, and other important figures in the society were painted to record these particular moments in time ( Learning area, n.d).
To recognise the centrality of arts to experiences among humans, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted several decades ago ( The future of the Australian curriculum, 2014). The declaration observed that everybody has a right to participate in the cultural life of their community. In addition, each person should be able to enjoy and share arts in the scientific advancement of its benefits. In the western world, arts subjects have been neglected and pushed to the periphery of the academic field in favour of the sciences. The curriculums used in most schools focus on literacy, sciences, and numeracy. However, in the last few decades, the intrinsic values of arts have been recognised (Ross, 2014).
According to some advocates of this field, arts have the ability to release people’s imaginations to new perspectives. In addition, they can help people identify new solutions and alternative views to life. As a result, the vistas that could be opened, as well as the connections that could be made, are phenomenal. It is also noted that the encounter between the individual and the world around them would be newly informed with the help of arts. In addition, immersion in arts has been found to improve individuals’ sense of enjoyment and identity. The immersion can also offer positive changes in the direction taken by the life of the individual (Anderson, 2014). In most cases, it is argued that arts can transform learning in education contexts. They can also ensure improve the link between the learners and the curriculum.
There are many ways through which arts can be defined. According to Bamford (2006), arts can be used to reflect the uniqueness of the cultural circumstances of a particular nation. Bamford (2006) further observes that art is characterised by fluidity and dynamism. In their attempts to arrive at a working definition of arts, Bamford (2006) recognises the impossibility of giving static definitions to this field. The reason is that the definitions become obsolete as soon as they are provided. As such, scholars should be conscious of the dynamism of contemporary art practices. In addition, the art terminology can be used to represent the important creative disciplines. The disciplines include dance, literature, drama, music, visual arts, film, as well as other forms of media arts. All these disciplines have a significant role in formal education contexts. They also play a significant role in the cohesion of the community.
The forms of art described above can be viewed as a representation of different languages. Their varying modes are used to communicate a wide range of skills, knowledge, and symbols. In light of this, it is imperative to study each form of art (Burton, 2010). Each form of art should be explored for its intrinsic values. The reason is that each of them has different ways of creating knowledge and improving communication (Sinclair & O’Toole, 2008). The various forms of art should be viewed and understood as different types of literary elements. However, it is important to note that all of them involve some kind of design, experimentation, play, provocation, and exploration. In addition, they entail expression, communication, representation, and visualisation. All these elements are used to shape other forms of media (Ross, 2014).
Arts play a significant role in the development of a child’s motor skills. For instance, most of the motions involved in the creation of art, such as scribbling with a pencil or a crayon, are important in the development of fine motor skills ( The future of the Australian curriculum, 2014). Participation helps learners to improve their skills in mathematics and reading. It also improves one’s cognitive and verbal competencies. According to Burton (2010), engaging in arts has a positive correlation with verbal capabilities. Learning these subjects is also associated with an increase in levels of motivation and enhanced confidence. It also improves concentration and teamwork among the learners ( Why art matters, 2011).
Many scholars observe that the intrinsic pleasures derived from arts entail more than just the ‘sweetening’ of a person’s life (Burton, 2010). Such experiences help to deepen the connection between the individual and the world around them. They also provide them with new ways to view the world. The development lays the foundation for strong social bonds and improved cohesion in the community. A strong programming of arts within the curriculum also helps to close the intellectual gap that has made many children lag behind in intellectual achievement. It is noted that the children from affluent backgrounds are exposed to arts through visits to museums and attending Mozart concerts and other platforms. As a result, their interaction with the arts is assured regardless of whether or not the subjects are provided in their schools. However, teaching arts in schools provides children from poor economic backgrounds a level playing field (Nathan, 2008).
A new picture is emerging in the new educational era. School districts have started to focus on the field of arts. The emerging models are anchored on new brain research findings and cognitive development. The new models have embraced a variety of approaches that regard arts as a significant learning tool. For instance, musical notes are increasingly being used to teach fractions (Nathan, 2008). The models have also incorporated arts into the teaching of the core classes. For example, the teaching of slavery and other historical themes can be delivered by having the students act a play that dramatises those events.
In the US, Australia, and Europe, it is widely acknowledged that the students exposed to a learning process embedded in arts achieve improved grades and better test scores compared to those who are not exposed to this field. The students are less likely to play truants. In addition, they are rarely bored and have a healthy and positive self concept (Marshall, 2010). They are also most likely to participate in community service. Nascent studies have demonstrated that learning through arts can improve educational outcomes for other academic disciplines (Burton, 2010). For instance, the studies have observed that the students who partake in drama and music attain higher levels of success in reading and mathematics than those who do not take part in such ventures. Consequently, arts are seen as strategies to engage difficult students. The subjects connect learners to self, others, and the world. Engaging in arts also helps the teacher to transform the classroom environment. Most importantly, it challenges the students who may already be successful to work harder (Burton, 2010).
Experimental evidence demonstrates a strong link between non-arts and arts skills. For example, I carried out an experiment on 10 children who were involved in a family theatre program. The program demonstrated that an exposure in theatrical activities for a year improves the empathy and emotional regulation among the children. For the adolescents involved in a similar program, it was shown that arts helped them improve their empathy. It also improved their understanding and appreciation of the mental status of other participants. The linkage makes sense to the advocates of arts education (Marshall, 2010). Training in arts, acting, and theatre puts the participants in other people’s shoes. The experience helps them to imagine how other people feel. In addition, it enables them to understand their emotions and view the world differently. After undertaking the program, I concluded that students should be given the opportunity to study arts in school irrespective of whether or not the subjects have discernible positive effects.
The cognitive benefits that are derived from arts include the development of skills needed in learning, improvement of academic performance, as well as enhancement of reading and mathematical capabilities. In addition, arts improve creative thinking among the learners (Marshall, 2010). The experiment mentioned above also showed that participation in theatre helped students from low socioeconomic backgrounds improve their academic performance. Consequently, I can conclude that the effects of arts education are transformative. The effects hold true across the socioeconomic divide. The impacts are cumulative and increase as the students from poor background get more exposure to the study of arts. It can also be emphasised that the students who are exposed to arts had better scores, which are higher than those of learners who are less engaged. The scores are especially better in such educational areas as creative thinking and originality (Burton, 2010).
The study of arts has a positive impact on the attitudes and behaviour of the students. The benefits of behavioural and attitude change include improved self-efficacy and self-discipline. The advantages are easily associated and directly linked to improved school attendance, as well as reduced rates of drop-outs (Burton, 2010). In addition, the benefits are associated with the development of social skills. Such social and life skills include better understanding and appreciation of the consequences of an individual behaviour. The students also portray an increased ability to participate in teamwork, acceptance of constructive critiquing from fellow students, and the willingness to adopt pro-social behaviours.
I must recognise that art has many health benefits. The therapeutic effects include improved physical and mental health. In Australia, the benefits are beginning to be recognised with several ongoing projects in schools reporting positive outcomes. It is argued that people who engage in relaxing activities, such as reading a novel, playing a musical instrument, painting, or singing, develop a healthy mind ( Why art matters , 2011). It is also observed that people who enjoy attending a good concert, a dance, a movie, or an art exhibition exercise their body and mind through the enjoyment, social inclusion, and relaxation. The individuals also improve their confidence, resilience, and self-esteem (Marshall, 2010). An art-mental paradigm can deliver significant health benefits to the students at school and in their adult life.
There are three different approaches to the learning of arts in Australia. The first can be described as the appreciation of Australian arts heritage. In this approach, the field is conceptualised as a domain for the talented. The approach points to the belief that the talented artist will provide the Australian society with its cultural artefacts ( Learning area , n.d). The second approach is the identification of the students who demonstrate artistic potential. The teachers focus on these learners and prepare them for future careers. The third approach is the desire to avail every student with an opportunity to engage with art and to appreciate it (Marshall, 2010). As such, the Australian curriculum anticipates that the students will actively learn, engage in artistic activities and processes, as well as appreciate the works of art done by others.
It must be remembered that the role of arts is to enhance learning by increasing enjoyment, fostering creativity, and enhancing imaginative activities. The objectives can only be achieved through participation in arts programs. It is also observed that students become more cognisant of the larger spectrum of world experiences by engaging in this field. The role of arts is to transform the students’ learning experiences by celebrating creativity. As such, teaching of arts should be encouraged and promoted at all levels of learning. Every student should be provided with the opportunity to participate in arts so as to improve their academic performance and develop into healthy adults with enhanced social skills.
Anderson, M. (2014). Why this elitist attack on arts education is wrong . Web.
Bamford, A. (2006). The wow factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education . Berlin, Germany: Waxmann Verlag.
Burton, B. (2010). Dramatising the hidden hurt: Acting against covert bullying by adolescent girls: Research in drama education. The Journal of Applied Theatre & Performance, 15 (2), 255-278.
Learning area. (n.d). Web.
Marshall, J. (2010). Five ways to integrate: Using strategies from contemporary art. Art Education, 63 (3), 13-19.
Nathan, L. (2008). Why the arts make sense in education. Phi Delta Kappan, 90 (3), 177-181.
Ross, M. (2014). The aesthetic imperative: Relevance and responsibility in arts education. New York: Pergamon.
Sinclair, C., & O’Toole, J. (2008). Education in the arts: Teaching and learning in the contemporary curriculum: Principles and practices for teaching. South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
The future of the Australian curriculum: The arts: A response to the review of the Australian curriculum . (2014). Web.
Why art matters . (2011). Web.
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Empowering Fine Art
There are many varied reasons why art is important to society. We will explore some of them here. A simple definition of art is that “art is order.”
Most of us do not consciously realize how much art plays a part in our daily lives.
You start your day with breakfast. Do you notice how the table is set? Or do you see how the food is placed on the plate? Most of us don’t. This is because the importance of art in life is such a normal part of your daily routine that you just accept it without any recognition. Art is all around us: the layout of streets and the planning of communities and cities are all direct results of art. Art is so much a part of life that you find it everywhere when you take a closer look at life.
However, when we start to delve into the art world we will see indeed how it is so much more than that. The recorded history of man is known through art. The value of art in society is incalculable, for without it mankind would not have knowledge of its history.
The greatest reason why art is important to society is that it defines human society and what brings us all together under the definition of mankind. It is impossible to know where we would be today as a race were it not for art. Art both records and preserves for future generations the knowledge of our existence. The importance of art in society is the very essence of what gives meaning to society so that we understand who we are today.
Art encourages community cohesion and reduces isolation. It makes us aware of the world around us and how we influence and react to each other. The value of art in society is too great to quantify. It not only proves who we are, but it educates us about our past and where we are today as a species. The reason why we organize ourselves in clubs, associations, communities, and even countries is to better ourselves and improve society in general.
It is only through our interaction with each other that we progress as a species. This is the very reason that we are the dominant species today on earth.
Art profoundly influences society through the creative process by changing opinions and instilling values across space and time. It is indeed a most powerful tool.
When people interact with each other they exchange ideas and opinions. This affords us the ability to express our thoughts and to bring our ideas to others’ attention. Through discussion and contemplation, we often come up with new ideas as a result of these exchanges. This process allows us to create new techniques and realities, which then become demonstrated and reflected in the graphic arts and literature.
The reduction of isolation shows us the value of art in our society. Meeting and interacting with others fosters new ideas that influence all the arts. So as art influences society so does society influence the arts…they are inseparable.
Art increases self-awareness and permits us to be open and receptive to new ideas and different perspectives.
If we use the visual arts as an example we can understand the development of pictorial painting. The caveman first painted scenes of themselves and animals on the cave walls thousands of years ago. As history progressed we can see in paintings how art changed and became more sophisticated.
This justifies the importance of art in life. Today we look at realistic paintings and abstract paintings and understand that they are both people and animals. This is due to the evolution in human self-awareness and our ability to accept new ideas.
A study of architecture through the ages defines very well how mankind has come from being a cave dweller to creating Stonehenge, the Parthenon, the Blue Mosque, and Gothic cathedrals. All are tremendous artistic accomplishments.
These structures give us a better understanding of time, place, and ideas, as well as attitudes of different cultures and periods in history and other subjects. So is art important? Below is more information on why.
There are many forms of art. Painting, fine art photography , sculpture, literature (novels, poems, plays,) and the performing arts (concerts, operas, dance.)
All of these refer directly to what is happening in all countries around the world during a particular time period. Most of us today see this in movies. We all enjoy films showing us what was happening in times gone by. If we reflect back to the era of silent films (about 100 years ago) we can easily understand what art forms bring to us to enrich our lives.
The importance of art in society’s life is easily understood when we see both old and contemporary movies . These celluloid treasures bring us into worlds that we would never have known. Through them, we can experience the monarchies of the 1700s, civil wars, life in the wild American West and so many other realms that we could never have known.
This art form of films alone has vastly impacted our lives. The importance of art in society is so great that it could never be measured.
Does art educate people?
A study of the arts gives greater meaning through expression, and it helps us to have a better understanding of our emotions and present information. It literally brings our ideas and feelings into reality with greater cultural appreciation.
Art and the fine arts are a form of communication across all cultures that transform our attitudes and beliefs via images, and stories. And, hence, it serves as a vehicle for social change.
In so many ways the arts have been the greatest educator of all people. It is because of art that we have tangible, visible (as seen in fine art photography ) evidence of our history. Every country has through their art contributed to mankind. We know of dances from India, Shakespearean plays, the rise and fall of monarchies, and countless other subjects because of art.
Art is a great way of abstaining from our daily issues and just unwinding. It can also be a way of expressing our emotions which we might’ve been unable to, due to any number of reasons including timing. But this outlet that the arts provide can be beneficial not only to oneself but to others as well! Art helps society flourish in the best possible manner and therefore, benefits us as human beings on so many levels.
The value of art in society today cannot be calculated as it is the very essence of our society. We know and understand what our society is only because of the existence of art. The varied arts educate, train, and lead us through our daily lives. It would be unthinkable to have our lives without art.
There are many diverse reasons why art is both important and advantageous to students in school as well as future generations. We will look into several of the most important reasons for art subjects in order to gain a greater understanding of this.
Educating people in the arts will give them a more profound experience and is an important component of any child’s development because it teaches community interaction, perception, and creativity. These skills are often left out of curricula in order to emphasize technical skills.
The assumption is that math and science better prepare students for higher degrees.; leaving no room for expression and development of the individual
Most of us are in a better place when we are able to look at life with appreciation and contentment. As we see things, we notice the details that are going well in our lives.
If we have a chance to connect with art, we are able to take a look and think of what is happening today. I think that if you recognize daily that art is in your life that you will do a great favor for yourself. To be aware of this you only need to take a walk, notice your surrounding or go to a gallery or museum.
Without giving it much thought we live our daily lives with public art, street art, artifacts, art pieces, and art galleries. Creative people and artists surround us and create art for us all expressing their thoughts and feelings. The world-famous artist Leonardo da Vinci through his self-expression is an artist who has left us with countless artistic diaries and the famous painting The Mona Lisa.
Does this make us think of ourselves as Art Educated? The response to this is probably “No.” However, upon reflecting on this question I am sure that we all will realize that we are indeed art educated.
Understanding art is as important to mankind as much as breathing and living. Cave dwellers from all over the world expressed themselves through drawings and paintings on the cave walls. Man has always desired to express his feelings and emotions through artistic pursuits. Often these are visual expressions such as drawings, paintings, sculptures, and artifacts whether functional (cups, vases, pitchers, etc.,) or decorative (mosaics, sculpture, paintings, jewelry, etc.)
We should also take into consideration some of the other artistic expressions such as literature (books, poems, plays, etc.,) and the performing arts (drama, dance, concerts, opera, etc.) Civilizations are defined by taking into account the artistic achievements of all cultures throughout history. So, we can now enumerate several examples of why it is important to understand art.
When we see a painting, it is usually framed. All subjects are of a moment frozen in time. This gives us a moment to pause and reflect on what we see. More often than not our brain is forced to assess, evaluate and reevaluate what we see. This same process occurs when we view a play or film, represented in fine art photography , and even when reading a book.
This experience forces us into thinking, and that very undertaking leads us to expansion and understanding. Thus, making us realize why it is so important to understand art. It further clarifies our overall thought processes and capabilities of expansive understanding.
Art is genuinely a gift to the world. It’s what we crave in the human experience. Art gives meaning to our lives and helps us understand our world.
It is an essential part of our culture because it allows us to have a deeper understanding of our emotions; it increases our self-awareness, and also allows us to be open to new ideas and experiences. Art, therefore, continues to open our minds and our hearts and shows us what could be possible in our world.
Art creates a culture’s vision of itself. The art of the past teaches us how people have lived. History gives us a way to understand our past and how it relates to today.
You will learn about human culture. You will study works of art from different periods and places.
Art influences society by translating experiences across space and time.
Painting, sculpture, music, literature, and the other arts are a society’s collective memory. Art preserves how it felt to exist in a particular place in a specific period.
Art is communication; it allows people from different cultures and different times to communicate with each other via images, sounds, and stories. Art is often a vehicle for social change. Music, film, or literature can ignite emotions
Art permits the human need for self-expression.
Having investigated all the various facets of art we can better understand how and why it is not only intrinsic but vital to human life. It has been with us since the very first origin of humans. Expressing our feelings and emotions in many diverse ways from cave paintings to the creation of motion pictures of today. man has proved himself to be the quintennial creator of art. Indeed, art is intertwined with the very essence of man’s soul.
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From paintings and sculptures to music and dance, the arts have the power to inspire, challenge, and transform individuals and communities. In this essay, we will explore the reasons why art is important and how it contributes to our lives. By examining its impact on education, personal development, and cultural heritage, we will gain a deeper ...
Art is important to culture because it can bridge the gap between different racial groups, religious groups, dialects, and ethnicities. It can express common values, virtues, and morals that we can all understand and feel. Art allows us to ask important questions about life and society.
Art shows us that what people are thinking and feeling is important, beautiful, and valid. It is a powerful and entertaining way to get someone else's perspective on something. Art is a way for us to express our vision through many different and unique ways. No matter whom you are, or what part of the world you are in Art has a way of lifting ...
The arts are transformative.". - Beth Bienvenu "The arts matter because they allow you to experience different ways of seeing and thinking about life.". - Don Ball "The arts matter because life is dull without perspective. All art, good and bad, made by an individual or a team, brings the perspective of an artist to others.
Why Art Matters: Unpacking Its Role in Society. Art encompasses a myriad of disciplines and forms, each capable of eliciting deep emotional and intellectual responses. It pervades every culture and society, providing a mirror to the human experience, reflecting societal norms, and often challenging them. Engaging with art allows individuals to ...
Introduction. Art has always shared an intricate relationship with society, serving as both a mirror and a catalyst for cultural change. Through its various forms and movements, art provides a lens through which we can analyze the values, beliefs, and aspirations of a society at any given time. In this article, we will delve into the ...
The benefits of creating art. Creating art can be an immensely rewarding experience that has both psychological and physical benefits. It can provide a sense of purpose, satisfaction, and accomplishment. Art can also help reduce stress, build self-confidence, and improve problem solving skills.
In conclusion, art is an essential aspect of human culture and society. It promotes creativity, critical thinking, and communication, and it can also have therapeutic benefits. Art education is critical in schools, and exposure to art can improve academic performance and reduce stress levels. Art can also shape society by addressing social and ...
Abstract. In this visual essay that serves as an introduction to the set of articles presented in this issue, we illustrate four ways that art makes society. We adopt a stance informed by recent perspectives on material culture, moving away from thinking about art purely in aesthetic terms, instead asking how art objects have significance in ...
The value of creating. At its most basic level, the act of creating is rewarding in itself. Children draw for the joy of it before they can speak, and creating pictures, sculptures and writing is both a valuable means of communicating ideas and simply fun. Creating is instinctive in humans, for the pleasure of exercising creativity.
Published: Aug 31, 2023. Art, an extraordinary medium of human expression, has the remarkable ability to deeply influence our lives in ways that resonate far beyond the canvas or stage. The impact of art is pervasive, touching every aspect of our existence and shaping our perceptions of the world around us.
What is art? - The dictionary definition of art says that it is "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination, especially in the production of aesthetic objects" (Merriam-Webster). Art is essential to society as it stimulates creativity, reflects culture, fosters empathy, provokes thought, and offers a medium for expression.It enhances society's intellectual and emotional ...
This is where art can make a difference. Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can make the world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, engagement, and even action. As an artist I have travelled to many countries around the world over the past 20 years.
2 Department of Philosophy, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, United States. Scientists, humanists, and art lovers alike value art not just for its beauty, but also for its social and epistemic importance; that is, for its communicative nature, its capacity to increase one's self-knowledge and encourage personal growth, and its ability to ...
This is the essay is part of The Big Ideas, a special section of The Times's philosophy series, The Stone, in which more than a dozen artists, writers and thinkers answer the question, "Why ...
This makes art very important as it is a universal language that can be recognized, understood and appreciated by anyone and everyone. Art can be expressed through film, music or writing. It gives people a platform to express thoughts and opinions on a plethora of issues and subjects such as politics.
4. Art leads to healthy and thoughtful cultural discussions. Art is often controversial or groundbreaking. And when art creates a stir, it has the potential to spark healthy conversations that lead to improvements across a society. Rather than impassioned debate, art gives us an opportunity to analyze, respond to, and create social change.
3. Art Helps You Cope With Anxiety and Depression. The experience of creating art can help you cope with anxiety and depression. It's a way to express your emotions without using words. That means it can be especially helpful for young children because they're still learning how to put their feelings into words.
The Importance of Visual Art. Gift of Sydney Smith Gordon. Visual art is a fundamental component of the human experience reflecting the world and the time in which we live. Art can help us understand our history, our culture, our lives, and the experience of others in a manner that cannot be achieved through other means.
The realm of art is vast, and its significance has evolved over time. However, there are seven primary reasons why art has remained indispensable to humanity: Escape from Reality: Art offers a haven from the every day, allowing us to step into different worlds and perspectives. Fostering Community: It establishes a shared identity and sense of ...
Abstract. Scientists, humanists, and art lovers alike value art not just for its beauty, but also for its social and epistemic importance; that is, for its communicative nature, its capacity to increase one's self-knowledge and encourage personal growth, and its ability to challenge our schemas and preconceptions.
According to Burton (2010), engaging in arts has a positive correlation with verbal capabilities. Learning these subjects is also associated with an increase in levels of motivation and enhanced confidence. It also improves concentration and teamwork among the learners (Why art matters, 2011).
The importance of art in society is the very essence of what gives meaning to society so that we understand who we are today. 1. Art encourages community cohesion. Art encourages community cohesion and reduces isolation. It makes us aware of the world around us and how we influence and react to each other.