{"title":"“Awful Skinny Boys” – Male Musical Theatre Performers’ Experiences of Body Image: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis","authors":"Maria E. Carr, Elisa G. Lewis","doi":"10.1177/02762374241275841","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241275841","url":null,"abstract":"Body dissatisfaction is likely to be particularly salient in aesthetically focused professions, including the performing arts. However, there is a paucity of research involving male theatre performers. This study addressed this omission by exploring how male musical theatre actors experience body image. Interviews were conducted with 7 male performers and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings illustrate the lasting influence that instructors and the training environment have upon the participants’ perceptions of their bodies, participants’ desire to appear masculine through greater muscularity, and the dissatisfaction that occurs when they perceive that their bodies do not conform to rigid notions of gender and body ideals. This study also provides insight into the nuanced experience of existing within a body of worth, often commodified and sold to audiences. These findings highlight the importance of facilitating a supportive training environment and opening up conversations about body dissatisfaction among male performers.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142042529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What Makes People High in Openness to Experience Happy? The Mediating Effect of Arts Engagement","authors":"Maria Manolika, Thomas Jacobsen","doi":"10.1177/02762374241267934","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241267934","url":null,"abstract":"Openness to experience is one of the least studied traits in relation to subjective well-being, despite its potential as a resource that enables flourishing. In this study, we therefore focused on this particular trait and examined whether its relation to subjective well-being is explained by receptive (Studies 1 and 2) and participatory arts engagement (Study 2) using data from the GESIS Panel ( N = 874) and the Swiss Household Panel ( N = 6336). In both studies, results indicated that the link between openness to experience and positive affect was explained in part by receptive arts engagement, whereas Study 2 showed that both receptive and participatory arts engagement served as partial mediators between openness to experience and life satisfaction. It follows, then, that the tendency to engage in the arts can lead to a happier life, which strengthens previous evidence for the potential of the arts as a means of flourishing.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"191 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141910247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gaze Preferences to Male Contrapposto and Non-Contrapposto Postures","authors":"Farid Pazhoohi, Oliver Lee Jacobs, Alan Kingstone","doi":"10.1177/02762374241268424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241268424","url":null,"abstract":"Contrapposto, an asymmetrical twisting of the hips and shoulders, has historically been associated with beauty and aesthetics in art. While the impact of a female contrapposto posture on perception of attractiveness and visual attention has been studied, its effects on males remain understudied. The current research aims to explore whether contrapposto postures in men influence perceptions of attractiveness, dominance, masculinity, dynamism, and naturalness, as well as visual attention. Two eye-tracking studies were conducted, utilizing images of male models in contrapposto and upright poses. Despite differences in attributions, no significant differences were found in visual attention between the two poses in both initial fixation and prolonged gaze behaviors. Contrapposto was consistently perceived as less dominant, masculine, and natural. These findings suggest a feminizing effect of contrapposto on male body posture, aligning with previous research on female contrapposto. The current research provides insights into the historical and artistic significance of contrapposto while contributing to the understanding of nonverbal communication through body posture.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141768440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Artists on Climate Change: Their Intended Impact and Audiences","authors":"Ulrike Hahn, Pauwke Berkers","doi":"10.1177/02762374241258632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241258632","url":null,"abstract":"There is a high interest in art's change potential towards sustainability. Yet, there is still a lot unknown about this change potential, including from the perspective of artists themselves. The research questions, thus, are: Do artists who create climate-related art have goals and target audiences regarding their climate-related work? If so, which goals and audiences do they aim for, and why? 30 interviews with artists having been born or living in the United Kingdom, United States of America or Germany were conducted and analyzed. A framework of eco-social change was applied to the interview transcripts, and artists’ goals and audiences were analyzed through thematic analysis. The research finds that artists have a desire for societal impact and wider audiences, but some also have narrower audiences and smaller changes in mind. Moreover, some artists engage in an impact reflexivity about not only the potential but also the limits of their practice.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141736881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Context and Painting Attributes Affect Aesthetic Judgment Across Expertise","authors":"Qin Li","doi":"10.1177/02762374241262606","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241262606","url":null,"abstract":"Using a digital environment, this study tested how setting (museum vs. street), reputation (established vs. unestablished), and style (abstract vs. representational) affected people's aesthetic perception of art. Art novices, quasi-experts, and experts were randomly assigned to rate paintings that varied in setting, reputation, and style. Although there was no significant main effect of setting, follow-up pairwise comparisons showed that novices gave higher aesthetic judgment to paintings in street settings. There was a significant interaction between reputation, style, and expertise, such that the greater the expertise, the greater the differences in ratings between established and unestablished paintings, and the smaller the differences between abstract and representational style paintings. Quasi-experts and experts gave higher ratings to established rather than unestablished paintings, and all groups preferred representational over abstract style; however, the expert preferences reversed with unestablished paintings. The study found that the effect of reputation and expertise persisted after controlling for painting familiarity.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141732666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aesthetic Production in Clay Molding: Mental and Dynamically Embodied Action Mediate Between Formal and Material Aspects of Experience","authors":"Johannes Wagemann, Sarah Starosky","doi":"10.1177/02762374241255875","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241255875","url":null,"abstract":"Aesthetic production, that is, the processing of material with a focus on the experiential and formal qualities of resulting objects and the process itself, encompasses basic dimensions of art, creativity, craft, and design. To explore these dimensions, we propose the Rubicon model of action phases as a general framework. Additionally, we introduce Schiller's aesthetics as an interactive account of formal/mental and material/physical aspects of aesthetic production and derive testable hypotheses from it. First, we expect form- and material-related experience to converge over an aesthetic production task; second, we assume that physical and mental actions occur with different prevalence across the action phases. These hypotheses were strengthened in a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study on a clay-molding task in an educational real-world setting ( N = 30). The results suggest understanding aesthetic production as a dynamic intertwining of object-related and subject-related experience, action, and embodiment, which supports the transdisciplinary significance of aesthetic production for self-development.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141185326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katja Thömmes, Ronald Hübner, Gregor U. Hayn-Leichsenring
{"title":"Is There a Timeless Truth for Good Arrangement of Paintings in Art Galleries and Museums? An Experimental Investigation of the Barnes Collection","authors":"Katja Thömmes, Ronald Hübner, Gregor U. Hayn-Leichsenring","doi":"10.1177/02762374241252108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241252108","url":null,"abstract":"The Barnes Foundation is a traditional art collection and it is one of a kind as for the assorted hanging of the paintings. The sophisticated wall compositions by Albert Barnes were created as a tool for art education, and they have not been altered since 1951. Today, we are interested whether Barnes’ taste withstood the test of time. We asked participants in an online study to create their own hangings on five of the original gallery walls, and also tested whether beholders are able to identify a missing painting from a selection of suitable alternatives. Results show that Barnes’ motifs are reproduced by a significant number of participants and that experts produce more Barnes-like displays than naive participants. We conclude that Albert Barnes based his choices at least to some degree on universally valid visual aspects that are still understood today, especially by people trained in the visual domain.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"430 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140903299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joshua A. Wilt, Julie J. Exline, Rebecca J. Schlegel, Aleksandra Sherman
{"title":"Aesthetic Dispositions, Aesthetic Engagement, and Meaning in Life","authors":"Joshua A. Wilt, Julie J. Exline, Rebecca J. Schlegel, Aleksandra Sherman","doi":"10.1177/02762374241248117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241248117","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research revealed that meaning in life is related positively to psychological engagement with art (i.e., aesthetic engagement), such as interest in art, knowledge about art, awe around art, and supernatural attributions for art experiences. We extended this work by considering the relevance of dispositions toward aesthetics (i.e., aesthetic dispositions), such as openness to experience, creativity in general and in art, and religious belief salience. Specifically, we proposed a conceptual model relating aesthetic dispositions, aesthetic engagement, and meaning in life. We tested hypotheses derived from the model with an online sample of N = 696 artists. Correlational results supported our hypotheses and replicated previous findings. Path analytic results showed that interest in art mediated associations between aesthetic dispositions and meaning in life. The results contribute to empirical work on aesthetic cognitivism, the philosophical stance that art can lead to understanding, by shedding light on factors associated with meaningful interactions with art.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140636043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interdisciplinary Art Learning Through Artistic Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL): Evaluating Learning Outcomes and Processes Among Science and Engineering Students","authors":"SiBo Zhou, Norfarizah Mohd Bakhir","doi":"10.1177/02762374241246948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241246948","url":null,"abstract":"The field of interdisciplinary art education, particularly through digital game-based learning, lacks empirical research on the art learning process and the competencies gained along the process. To address this research gap, this study collects data through experiment and post-experiment interviews from 20 science and engineering college students who participated in a 1-month digital game-based art learning program. The findings reveal three learning process cycles involved during art educational digital gameplay, namely the game action cycle, the experiential learning process cycle, and the game response cycle. Throughout the three process cycles, 29 learning outcomes were identified based on students’ gameplay experiences. These outcomes are then categorized into three themes, including enhanced self-management, enhanced learning experience, and refinement of proprioceptive competencies. Overall, this study highlights the digital learning process in the context of interdisciplinary art education and emphasizes the importance of valuing the outcomes gained from digital game-based learning in art education.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140608268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}