Aesthetic Emotions and Aesthetic People: Openness Predicts Sensitivity to Novelty in the Experiences of Interest and Pleasure

• Main Authors: Kirill eFayn, Carolyn eMacCann, Niko eTiliopoulos, Paul J. Silvia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: aesthetics; Appraisals; Interest; multi-level modelling; personality processes; Openness/Intellect
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01877/full

There is a stable relationship between the Openness/Intellect domain of personality and aesthetic engagement. However, neither of these are simple constructs and while the relationship exists process based evidence explaining the relationship is still lacking. The current research looked to clarify the relationship by evaluating the influence of the Openness and Intellect aspects on several different aesthetic emotions. Two studies looked at the between- and within-person differences in the emotions of interest, pleasure and confusion in response to visual art. The results suggest that Openness, as opposed to Intellect, was predictive of greater interest and pleasure, while both aspects explained less confusion. Differences in Openness were associated with within-person emotion appraisal contingencies, particularly greater novelty-interest and novelty-pleasure relationships. Those higher in Openness were particularly influenced by novelty in artworks. For pleasure this relationship suggested a different qualitative structure of appraisals. The appraisal of novelty is part of the experience of pleasure for those high in Openness, but not those low in Openness. This research supports the utility of studying Openness and Intellect as separate aspects of the broad domain and clarifies the relationship between Openness and aesthetic states in terms of within-person appraisal processes.