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Aesthetic Chills: Knowledge-Acquisition, Meaning-Making, and Aesthetic Emotions
Felix Schoeller1, Leonid Perlovsky2
1Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 20, 2016
Summary
Experiencing aesthetic chills is linked to how we make meaning. A meaningful context enhances aesthetic pleasure, while incoherence diminishes it, impacting emotional and knowledge-acquisition processes.
Area of Science:
- Psychology of Aesthetics
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroaesthetics
Background:
- Aesthetic emotions, knowledge-acquisition, and meaning-making are interconnected.
- Aesthetic chills provide a measurable physiological response to aesthetic experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between meaning-making and aesthetic chills.
- To examine how primes (meaningful, neutral, incoherent) affect aesthetic chills and pleasure.
- To explore the psychological and physiological underpinnings of aesthetic chills in narrative contexts.
Main Methods:
- Review of theoretical foundations on aesthetic emotions and meaning-making.
- Experimental presentation of stimuli to elicit aesthetic chills.
- Manipulation of primes (incoherent, neutral, meaningful) prior to stimulation.
- Analysis of subjective reports on pleasure, empathy, and calming effects.
Main Results:
- Incoherent primes inhibited aesthetic chills.
- Meaningful primes enhanced aesthetic experience pleasure compared to neutral or incoherent primes.
- Narrative-induced aesthetic chills correlated with story climaxes, calming effects, and character empathy.
Conclusions:
- Meaning-making significantly influences the intensity and pleasure of aesthetic chills.
- Aesthetic chills involve psychological, physiological, and narratological dimensions.
- Further research is needed to test proposed hypotheses on the interplay of meaning and aesthetics.
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