Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 831-837
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.113 831
E
VOLUTION OF
P
OPULAR
A
ESTHETIC
P
SYCHOLOGY UNDER THE
I
NFLUENCE OF
P
AINTING
A
RT
Yibin Hai
*Abstract
As a unique type of painting, Chinese painting is an emerging object of the research on aesthetic psychology. Based on the theories of aesthetics and aesthetic psychology, this paper explores the evolution of popular aesthetic psychology under the influence of painting art from three dimensions: aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness. Three kinds of Chinese painting were selected as the research objects, and applied to a contrastive experiment on undergraduates not trained in painting and undergraduates and postgraduates who have been trained in painting. The experimental results show that the length of professional training has a positive influence on the sharpness of aesthetic feeling, the pleasure in painting appreciation, and the fondness of painting art; the three dimensions interact with each other, and the appreciation of painting art is a progressive process of aesthetic psychology. The research results help to promote the aesthetic pleasure through the creation of painting artworks.
Key words: Painting Art, Chinese Painting, Aesthetic Psychology, Aesthetic Feeling, Pleasure, Fondness.
Received: 19-02-19 | Accepted: 22-07-19
INTRODUCTION
The art of painting is a form of expression in designing objective images by means of highly generalized and refined concrete images (Carothers & Gardner, 1979). As an embodiment of the wisdom, personality, psychology and temperament of the Chinese nation, Chinese painting has unique national characteristics and style, which makes it a unique system in the world of paintings. The aesthetic study on Chinese painting is the development trend of studies on aesthetic psychology.
The psychological activities of the aesthetic subject in the aesthetic process are the main object of aesthetic psychology research (Zheng, Weidong, & Xuchen, 2015). The subjective feeling of the aesthetic subject towards the aesthetic object in the aesthetic appreciation
Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, China. E-Mail: haiyibinoew@163.com
process is called aesthetic experience, which is a unique subjective experience of human consciousness (Haines & Davies, 1904). Solso used brain imaging experiments for the first time to study the brain activity of ordinary subjects and professional portrait painters. The results show that professional painters perform more advanced creative thinking activities than ordinary subjects (Schoeller, 2015). Leder, Belke, Oeberst et al. (2004) believed that subjects' aesthetic emotions towards art works were influenced by their professional knowledge. Russel found through experiments that the aesthetic evaluation of the subjects was influenced by their explanatory power to the works of art (Vessel, Gabrielle, & Nava, 2012). Aesthetic experience is an advanced cognitive process. At present, the research on aesthetic psychological activities in China is still in the basic experimental stage. Li Hong has made an in-depth study on children's psychological characteristics of painting and music aesthetics (Redies, 2015). Through experiments, Zhao Lingli
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and Huang Xiting found that middle school students' understanding of aesthetic concept and their creative thinking had a positive promoting trend. Mr. Chen Lijun and others explored the relationship between aesthetic experience and positive emotions (Perlovsky, 2014). With the deepening of the study on aesthetic psychology in China, the pure theoretical researches have been transformed to behavioral experiment, but the research results of behavioral experiment on painting art and aesthetic psychology are very limited at present. Based on the above analysis, this study takes Chinese painting as an example, and on the basis of a brief introduction to aesthetic psychology and its related concepts, selects undergraduate students who have not been trained in painting, undergraduate students and graduate students who have been trained in painting as subjects. This study explores the evolution of popular aesthetic psychology under the influence of painting art, in an effort to explore its basic principles and laws, thus acquiring valuable application.
CONCEPTS RELATED TO AESTHETIC
PSYCHOLOGY
Aesthetic psychology
The main research object of aesthetic psychology is the psychological activities of the aesthetic subject in the aesthetic process. Aesthetic activity is the advanced form of human consciousness activity. At present, scientific
experimental method and subjective
introspection method are the two main methods used in aesthetic psychology research.
There are many psychological schools that have an important influence on aesthetics. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis school, uses unconscious theory to reveal the deep structure of aesthetic psychology and holds that artistic activities are the sublimation of human sexual desire. Von Jung, a student of Freud, believes that mythological archetypes and intentions in the collective unconsciousness are the source of aesthetic experience. Behaviorist psychological aesthetics holds that works of art can evoke individual preferences, pleasures and aesthetic neural mechanisms. The psychological aesthetics of information processing holds that the aesthetic individual will produce aesthetic feeling and pleasure when the internal expectation pattern produced in the aesthetic
activity process is satisfied.
Aesthetic experience
Aesthetic cognition is the core part of individual aesthetic psychology institution, and aesthetic experience is the emotional state produced by individual based on his own aesthetic cognition in the process of aesthetic activities. It is a subjective consciousness experience, including three dimensions: aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness.
Domestic scholars have not reached a consensus on the concrete process of aesthetic experience. Wang Yichuan divided it into three basic levels: the historical level, the temporary level and the pre-structure level. Zhao Bofei divided it into three stages in an ascending order according to their degree: identification, composition and reflection (Stamatopoulou, 2004). Wang Sujun divided the aesthetic experience in to three stages: the visual stage, the composition stage and the reflection stage, and he believed that these three stages alternate and integrate with each other (Leder, Belke, Oeberst et al., 2004).
The information processing model of aesthetic experience is constructed by scholars from different angles. Chatterjee divided aesthetic cognition into three parts: the early processing stage, the middle processing stage and the late processing stage from the perspective of the visual neuroscience experiment. Hofel et al. divided aesthetic processing into three stages: perception, central processing and output.
THE EVOLUTION OF POPULAR AESTHETIC PSYCHOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PAINTING ART
Experimental design
In order to study the differences in popular aesthetic psychology under the influence of painting art, this study selects the three most important dimensions of aesthetic experience - aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness as research indexes, and takes the classical flower-and-bird paintings and landscape paintings in Chinese painting as experimental materials. A total of 30 ordinary undergraduate students (including 16 males and 15 females) and 32 undergraduate students (including 16 males and 16 females) and a total of 31 postgraduate students (including 15 males and 16 females)
EVOLUTION OF POPULAR AESTHETIC PSYCHOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PAINTING ART 833
without professional training in painting are selected as subjects. Four non-professional painting teachers and professional painting teachers respectively select 20 brushwork landscape paintings, 20 flower-and-bird paintings, 20 freehand landscape paintings and 20 flower-and-bird paintings in the Chinese Painting Picture Book as experimental stimulus materials, with a total of 80.
The influence of painting experience on aesthetic dimension of aesthetic experience
After the start of the experiment, the subject will see the pre-processed "+" on the computer screen for duration of 1000ms, whose purpose is to focus the attention of the subject to prepare for the experiment, and then the subject will see the pre-processed experimental pictures. The experimental pictures are played randomly without repetition for duration of 3000ms, then the subject judge according to his feeling within 2000ms after watching the picture, and press the corresponding numerical key. Numbers 1-7 represent very deep, medium deep, slightly deep, no feeling, slightly not deep, medium not deep, extremely not deep. The lower the scores, the deeper and sharper the aesthetic experience will be. Finally, a blank screen will appear for 500ms, and then enters the next group of experiments. There are 80 groups of experiments. The specific flow of the experiment is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
.
Experimental task flow chart
3000ms Experimental
picture
Aesthetic evaluation 1000ms
5000ms 2000ms
Figure 2 shows the average scores of aesthetic feeling evaluation of three groups of subjects, from which it can be seen that the
scores of ordinary undergraduates who have not been trained in painting are higher than those of undergraduates and postgraduates who have been trained in painting. The scores of undergraduates trained in painting are higher than those of postgraduates. Variance analysis is conducted on the scores of aesthetic feeling evaluation of experimental pictures of the three groups. The results show that there are significant differences in the average scores of aesthetic dimensions between the three groups (F = 13.67, p < 0.01), which indicates that the subjects who have received professional training in painting tend to be more easily experience the aesthetic feeling brought by painting works and the longer the time for professional training in painting, the more profound and sharper their aesthetic feeling will become.
Figure 2
.
Mean value map of the three
groups of aesthetic evaluation scores
Figure 3
.
Mean value map of three groups of
subjects
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Figure 3 shows the average response time of three groups of subjects for aesthetic feeling, from which it can be seen that the aesthetic feeling response time of undergraduates without professional painting training is longer than that of undergraduates and postgraduates with professional painting training. The aesthetic feeling response time of undergraduates trained in professional painting is longer than that of postgraduates. Variance analysis is performed on the aesthetic feeling evaluation response time of three groups of subjects. The results show that there are significant differences between the three groups (F = 3.78, p < 0.05), which indicates that the sensitivity of the subjects to the aesthetic judgment of the painting works and the acceptance of the painting works increase with the increase of their learning time.
The influence of painting experience on the pleasure dimension of aesthetic experience
The procedure is the same as above, except that the keys 1-7 respectively represent the level of pleasure brought to the subjects by the experimental pictures, namely, very pleasant, medium pleasant, slightly pleasant, no feeling, slightly unpleasant, medium unpleasant and very unpleasant.
Figure 4
.
Mean score map of the evaluation
of the pleasure of the three groups
2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4
3.2
2.53
2.29
Graduate student in fine arts Art major
undergraduate Ordinary
undergraduate
Figure 4 shows the average pleasure evaluation scores of the three groups of subjects, from which it can be seen that the undergraduates who have not been trained in painting have higher scores than the
undergraduate and graduate students who have been trained in painting, and the scores of undergraduates trained in painting are higher than those of postgraduates. Variance analysis is conducted on the scores of pleasure evaluation of three groups of subjects. The results show that there are significant differences in the aesthetic experience of pleasure (F = 12.66, p <
0.001), which indicates that the subjects with professional training in painting can produce more positive emotional experience in the appreciation of painting works. The longer the students receive professional training in painting, the higher the degree of pleasure they will experience, and the stronger the positive emotion they will have in appreciating the paintings.
Figure 5 shows the average value of the response time of the subjects for pleasure evaluation, from which it can be seen that the undergraduates who have not been trained in painting have higher scores than the undergraduate and graduate students who have been trained in painting. The scores of undergraduates who have been trained in painting are higher than those of postgraduates, which indicate that the longer the time for their training in painting, the faster the subjects will accept the paintings. The variance analysis on the evaluation response time shows that there are no significant differences between the three groups (F = 1.498, p = 0.239).
Figure 5
.
Mean value map of three groups of
participants' pleasure evaluation
Influence of painting experience on the fondness of aesthetic experience
EVOLUTION OF POPULAR AESTHETIC PSYCHOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PAINTING ART 835
the above, except that the keys 1-7 respectively represent the degree of fondness brought to the subjects by the experimental pictures, namely, extreme fondness, medium favorite, slight fondness, no feeling, slight dislike, medium dislike and extreme dislike.
Figure 6
.
Three groups of test preference
evaluation mean map
Figure 6 shows the average value of fondness evaluation of three groups of subjects, from which it can be seen that the undergraduates who have not been trained in painting have higher scores than the undergraduate and graduate students who have been trained in painting. The scores of the undergraduates who have been trained in painting are higher than those of graduate students, indicating that after the study of painting, the emotion of the subjects towards the painting works is deeper, and it is easier for them to understand the meaning expressed by the painting works, leading to more fondness for the painting works. The results of variance analysis on the fondness evaluation shows that there are significant differences among the three groups (F = 6.975, p
< 0.01), which indicates that with the increase of the years of professional training in painting, the subjects develop more fondness for the paintings.
Figure 7 shows the average value of the response time of three groups of subjects for fondness evaluation. From the figure, it can be seen that the fondness evaluation response time of undergraduates with professional painting training is the longest, followed by undergraduates without professional drawing training. There are no significant differences
between the three groups (F = 2.186, p = 0.122), and the fondness of the graduate students who have been trained in painting have the shortest response time. The variance analysis on the response time of the subjects for fondness evaluation shows that there are no significant differences between the three groups (F=2.186, p=0.122).
Figure 7
.
Mean value map of three groups of
subjects' preference evaluation reaction
Correlation Analysis on the three dimensions of aesthetic experience
Table 1.
Person correlation analysis between
three groups of subjects' aesthetics, pleasure
and affection
Index Category Aesthetic
sense Pleasure
Aesthetic sense
Ordinary undergraduate
Art major undergraduate
Graduate student in fine
arts
Pleasure
Ordinary
undergraduate 0.826** Art major
undergraduate 0.548** Graduate
student in fine arts
0.928**
Affection
Ordinary
undergraduate 0.717** 0.937** Art major
undergraduate 0.138 0.822** Graduate
student in fine arts
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Table 1 shows the results of Person correlation analysis between aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness of three groups of subjects. From the table, it can be seen that the three groups of subjects show significant correlation among aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness, indicating that the three dimensions integrate and penetrate each other, and that the appreciation for painting art is a progressive process of aesthetic psychology.
CONCLUSIONS
The aesthetic consciousness of painting art runs through the whole creative process. On the basis of the relevant references at home and abroad and taking Chinese paintings as an example, this study focuses on the evolution of popular aesthetic psychology under the influence of painting art, leading to the following concrete conclusions:
(1) The aesthetic feeling evaluation scores and response time of ordinary undergraduates without professional training in painting are higher and longer respectively than those of undergraduates and postgraduates with professional training in painting, and those of undergraduates with professional training in painting are higher and longer respectively than those of postgraduates. There are significant differences in the scores and response time of the three groups, which indicates the longer the time for professional training in painting, the more profound and sharper their aesthetic feeling will become.
(2) The undergraduates who have not been trained in painting have higher scores for pleasure evaluation and longer response time than the undergraduate and graduate students who have been trained in painting, and the undergraduates with training in painting have higher scores for pleasure evaluation and longer response time than postgraduates. There are significant differences in the scores of the three groups, but no significant differences in their response time, indicating that the longer the students receive professional training in painting, the higher the degree of pleasure they will experience, and the stronger the positive emotion they will have in appreciating the paintings.
(3) The undergraduates who have not been trained in painting have higher fondness
evaluation scores than the undergraduates and graduate students who have been trained in painting, and the undergraduates who have been trained in painting have higher fondness evaluation scores than graduate students. There are significant differences in the fondness evaluation scores between the three groups of subjects, which indicates that the longer they have been trained in painting, the more they like painting. The response time of the three groups for fondness evaluation in a descending order is: undergraduates with training in painting, the undergraduates without training in painting and the postgraduates with training in painting. There are no significant differences between the three groups.
(4) The three groups show significant correlation among aesthetic feeling, pleasure and fondness, indicating that the three dimensions integrate and penetrate each other, and that the appreciation for painting art is a progressive process of aesthetic psychology.
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