Viewing art can improve our mood and well-being

Date:
May 5, 2023
Source:
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Summary:
A recent study sheds light on online art viewing as a source of
pleasure and meaning-making that can boost our well-being.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Art can have a positive effect on our mood. But does this also work when
we look at paintings on a screen? An international research team involving
the University of Vienna, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
in Nijmegen and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
(MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main decided to investigate this question. The
study was funded by the EU Horizon ART*IS Project. The results have now
been published as an open access article in the journal Computers in
Human Behavior.

240 study participants viewed an interactive Monet Water Lily art
exhibition from Google Arts and Culture. By filling out a questionnaire,
they provided information about their state of mind, how much pleasure
they felt when looking at the pictures, and how meaningful they considered
the experience to be. The results showed significant improvements in
mood and anxiety after just a few minutes of viewing.

"Online art viewing is an untapped source of support for well-being
that can be consumed as bite-sized bits of meaning-making and pleasure,"
says MacKenzie Trupp, first author from the University of Vienna.

The study also found that some participants were more receptive to
art than others and were able to benefit more. This advantage could be predicted using a metric called "aesthetic responsiveness." "Aesthetic responsiveness describes how people react to diverse aesthetic stimuli,
like art and nature. The results showed that individuals with high levels
of art and aesthetic responsiveness benefit more from online art viewing
due to having more pleasurable and meaningful art experiences," explains
Edward A. Vessel of MPIEA, developer of the Aesthetic Responsiveness
Assessment (AReA).

The findings of this study are particularly interesting for people who
are unable to visit museums in person, such as those with health problems.

Furthermore, the results suggest that interactive art exhibitions
and similar online experiences should be designed with an awareness
of individual differences in aesthetic responsiveness. The study thus
expands insight into the benefits and limitations of art in digital media
and points the way for increasing the wellness potential of online art.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Mind_&_Brain
# Creativity # K-12_Education # Anger_Management #
Spirituality # Consumer_Behavior
* RELATED_TERMS
o Collaboration o Love o Synesthesia o Cyber-bullying o Eye
o Happiness o Mammal_classification o Addiction

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. MacKenzie D. Trupp, Giacomo Bignardi, Eva Specker, Edward A. Vessel,
Matthew Pelowski. Who benefits from online art viewing, and how: The
role of pleasure, meaningfulness, and trait aesthetic responsiveness
in computer-based art interventions for well-being. Computers in
Human Behavior, 2023; 145: 107764 DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2023.107764 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230505101654.htm

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