Premium
Children's perception of ‘aesthetic’ properties of the arts: Domain‐specific or pan‐artistic?
Author(s) -
Winner Ellen,
Rosenblatt Elizabeth,
Windmueller Gail,
Davidson Lyle,
Gardner Howard
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1986.tb01006.x
Subject(s) - property (philosophy) , perception , the arts , aesthetics , psychology , expression (computer science) , domain (mathematical analysis) , art , cognitive psychology , visual arts , computer science , mathematics , epistemology , philosophy , mathematical analysis , neuroscience , programming language
A method is presented for examining perceptual development in the arts and a study based on this methodology is reported. The purpose of the study was to chart the developmental course of perceptual skills used in the arts and to investigate whether these skills generalize across art forms and aesthetic properties or are ‘art‐form‐specific’ and/or ‘property‐specific’. The sensitivity of 7‐, 9‐ and 12‐year‐olds to three aesthetic properties (repleteness, expression and composition) was investigated in three art forms (drawing, music and literature). Sensitivity to aesthetic properties increased with age. Ability to perceive aesthetic properties in one art form did not predict ability to perceive these same properties in another art form (supporting the ‘art‐form‐specific’ position). In much the same way, ability to perceive one aesthetic property of an art form did not predict ability to perceive another aesthetic property in the same art form (supporting the ‘property‐specific’ position). These results suggest that young children do not attend fully to aesthetic properties of adult works of art and that aesthetic perception develops property by property, and domain by domain. Aesthetic perception appears to emerge as not one skill but many.