Psychology of Arts Working Group

Working Group memebrs:

• Assoc.Prof. Vladimír Chrz, Ph.D.
• Assoc.Prof. Jan Slavík
• Assoc.Prof. Jitka Géringová, Ph.D.
• M.A. Beate Albrich

The psychology of art is an interdisciplinary field that studies the perception, cognition and characteristics of art and the processes of art creation and production. The psychology of art co-operates with other disciplines: gestalt psychology, cognitive psychology, aesthetics, phenomenology, hermeneutics, semantics and also environmental psychology. The field of art is very wide: visual and pictorial art, architecture and design, poetry and fine art literature, music, dance, theater and movie production, etc. Also principles in psychology of art are divided: abstract (archaic style) / figurative (renaissance style), form / content, individual / archetypal, expression / interpretation, rational / emotional, purposeful / ornate, etc.

Currently there are researched the topics that lead to up to date theories in psychology of art: the prove of empathy (principle of aesthetic perception), bottom-up and top-down processing (stimulus is analyzed and understood by past experience), the importance of meaning (meaningful conception of reality to survive), neural evidence (neuroanatomical reaction confirmed by fMRI, EEG), personality differences (personality traits are related to art creation and perception), need of complexity and balance, positive desintegration and self-actualization and re-integration (the role of creative process).

Art materials or instruments used specifically as a form of psychotherapy are examined in another specialization: art therapy.

Core topics:

• The role of meaning and cognition
• Assessment, clarification, persuasion, suggestion
• Perception and neuro-aesthetics
• Communication between artist and spectator
• Narration
• Therapeutic utilization of art (art-therapy)