How does aesthetic emotion influence the perception of beauty? Saahil Patel (9M1) Aesthetic emotions are emotions that have been associated with and felt during aesthetic experience: one’s encounter of beauty and processing of it (Lyas, C., 2002). They arise in response to aesthetic objects: for example, paintings, dances, music, and literature or anything that has the capacity to be recognised after being sensorially experienced aesthetically (Munroe, T., & Scruton, R., 2020). Notable examples of aesthetic emotions that tend to be almost always exclusive to aesthetic experience are sublimity, kitsch, and ‘being moved’. Menninghaus et al., (2019), in particular, who argued, “aesthetic emotions are the intermediary through which art does its work”, investigated aesthetic experience and have remained steadfast in arguing that they are a key factor in aesthetic evaluation and how we perceive beauty. However, there is still debate on whether they truly are worthy of recognition, irrelevant, or even a hindrance to experiencing beauty altogether. For an object to be recognised as beautiful, it has been identified that medium to high levels of pleasure need to be elicited as a reaction to it and the experience of the object must match internal models of what beauty should be like, highlighting the subjective qualities of beauty (Perlovsky, L., 2014; Skov, M. & Nadal, M., 2020). As a result of these unique internal models, influenced by significant events, self-view, and the environments one spends their time in, beauty is experienced differently in accordance with the unique tastes and preferences of a person that constitute a significant amount their perceived identity. The object itself may not affect the response, but simply the associations resulting in unpleasant aesthetic emotions that may be preconsciously drawn upon from the object of appraisal or any of its characteristic features. Considering the scenario of judging a painting of the sea, Subject A may find the piece to be beautiful, entranced by the harmonious shades of blue and the atmosphere it brings about; however, Subject B, who had a near-death drowning experience many years ago may find the piece disturbing and even traumatic. Whilst this supports the theory that beauty is subjective, Subject B may still have the ability to find the painting beautiful by removing themself from their experiences with the sea and appreciating the scene from a ‘psychically distanced’ perspective, hindering the negative affect1 of their memories and the traumatic emotions they arouse (Lyas, C., 2002). The theory of psychical distancing was proposed by Edward Bullough, where one steps away from reality when considering the aesthetic object and judges it objectively by putting metaphorical ‘distance’ between the object and themselves, thereby allowing their aesthetic experienced to not be hindered by reality and the memories, emotions and context that comes with it. In the previous scenario, Subject B may understandably not be able to completely detach themselves from their experiences, but viewing the aesthetic object even in the most basic form possible (for example, looking at the painting’s individual lines and colours to see a harmonious, smooth assortment of forms and colours, as opposed to appreciating that the painting depicts the sea and drawing this association to what is being represented), if necessary, significantly increases the way one perceives beauty. While recognition of beauty certainly is affected by personal taste, many objects have the potential to be considered beautiful more objectively than they have been given credit for, setting in motion the idea that beauty may not necessarily be in the eye of the beholder if unpleasant responsive aesthetic emotions, arisen through association, can be accounted for. Aside from appreciating beauty from a psychical distance, alternative sources of experiencing beauty are fascination and a similar emotion: interest. The most common reaction being simply experiencing the pure novelty of an object or feeling curious about unfamiliar features in it that hold attention, both occurring as one tries to process the information presented before them (Cupchik, G, C., & Gebotys, R. J., 1990). By investigating In psychology, ‘affect’ (used as a noun) refers to (often underlying) emotions or desires that influence behaviour. 1
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