Where do you find inspiration? New research suggests that a good place to look is in an art museum. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany, have found that appealing visual art can increase moments of inspiration.
In a new article published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the authors report several experiments in which participants were asked to write short creative stories in response to different prompts. People reported feeling more inspired when writing in response to an artwork that they found aesthetically appealing compared to one they did not find appealing, or to prompts of random words. They also wrote more.
Dominik Welke, the study’s lead author, thinks these results can tell us something about the psychology underlying creative thought. “We think that the mental state of ‘being moved’ by a painting can prime the state of ‘being inspired’ to create—possibly because these two states show some similarities, such as feelings of motivation and transcendence.”
The project’s senior author, Edward Vessel, suggests that their results show the promise of arts-based interactions in educational and professional settings. “Increasing interactions with art and letting students choose to work with materials that they find aesthetically appealing might boost how often they have inspiring ideas.”
Moments of inspiration are an important part of the creative process, acting as bridges from generating ideas to acting on them. This research points a way to better understand such moments and to improve our own creativity.
Edward A. Vessel, PhD
Tel.: +49 69 8300479-327
ed.vessel@ae.mpg.de
Welke, D.W., Purton, I., Vessel, E.A. (2021). Inspired by art: Higher aesthetic appeal elicits increased felt inspiration in a creative writing task. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/aca0000393
Aesthetically Appealing Art Increases Creative Inspiration
(Illustration: MPI for Empirical Aesthetics)
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten, Lehrer/Schüler, Studierende
Kunst / Design, Pädagogik / Bildung, Psychologie
überregional
Forschungsergebnisse, Wissenschaftliche Publikationen
Englisch
Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.
Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).
Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.
Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).
Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).