A Description of Children's Verbal Responses to Works of Art.

Abstract

Art education is commonly interpreted as education in the production and appreciation of art objects. The major emphasis in practice has been upon the production of works of art, while the appreciation of art has been neglected. Recently, educators have recognized that neglect, and they have turned their attention to teaching for appreciation of art work or to esthetic education.' 2 3 4 Their aim, in general, is to improve the responses the people make to the visual environment, including works of art. Before art educators can decide if improved responses have been made, however, they need to know how people respond to works of art before those people have received formal instruction in art appreciation. Basically, investigators have used two methods of estimating children's responses to art objects. First, many investigators have noted those art works that people prefer. The second method of investigation analyzes the verbal statements that the subjects offer about works of art. Both methods of investigation have revealed valuable information about responses that people make to art works. Picture preference studies give general information about the choices people make. Essentially, the picture preference investigations show that subjects who are trained in art tend to prefer the art work preferred by art experts.5 6 Further, these studies indicate that subjects' preferences change with age.7 For instance, several studies conclude that older subjects prefer more realistically depicted art work than do younger subjects.8 9 It is important to note, however, that most picture preference studies do not give specific information about which aspects of the art objects influenced the subjects' choices. Several preference investigators do attempt to explain what influenced the subjects' choices by examining only the art work that was chosen by the subjects.'? It is possible that the reasons for preference inferred by inspecting only the art objects are different from the reasons the subjects would say influenced them." Consequently there seems to be a need for research which will uncover the factors that the subjects themselves consider to be the primary influences affecting their preference for certain works of art. Several investigators have attempted to meet this need by examining the verbal responses that subjects make to works of art. Some researchers concerned with verbal responses describe the aspects of the art work which the subjects say influence their choices, while other investigators describe the kinds of statements the subjects make about the art work.'2 13 In general, these studies also have weaknesses. Frequently, the subjects are asked to respond to extremely small black and white reproductions of colorful originals.'4 It seems evident that responses to size, detail, and color may be influenced by the inaccuracies of small reproductions. Furthermore, many subjects are asked to respond only to the art object they like.5 16 Hence, we have no way of knowing what causes people to dislike certain art objects. In addition, several studies fail to indicate how the responses were solicited.'7 18 Obviously, the method of solicitation may have conditioned the subjects to respond to certain ways or to