6533b7ddfe1ef96bd1274838

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Stable aesthetic standards delusion: changing 'artistic quality' by elaboration.

Claus-christian CarbonVera M. HesslingerVera M. Hesslinger

subject

AdultMaleEstheticsmedia_common.quotation_subjectFace (sociological concept)Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyChoice BehaviorDelusionsTask (project management)Key (music)Young AdultPortraitDelusionArtificial IntelligencemedicineHumansQuality (business)Elaborationmedia_commonSensory SystemsOphthalmologyAestheticsBeautyVisual PerceptionFemalePaintingsmedicine.symptomPsychology

description

The present study challenges the notion that judgments of artistic quality are based on stable aesthetic standards. We propose that such standards are a delusion and that judgments of artistic quality are the combined result of exposure, elaboration, and discourse. We ran two experiments using elaboration tasks based on the repeated evaluation technique in which different versions of the Mona Lisa had to be elaborated deeply. During the initial task either the version known from the Louvre or an alternative version owned by the Prado was elaborated; during the second task both versions were elaborated in a comparative fashion. After both tasks multiple blends of the two versions had to be evaluated concerning several aesthetic key variables. Judgments of artistic quality of the blends were significantly different depending on the initially elaborated version of the Mona Lisa, indicating experience-based aesthetic processing, which contradicts the notion of stable aesthetic standards.

10.1068/p7709https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25420339