SCIENTISTS introduce ART EMOTIONS MAP | Google Arts & Culture

Summary

In this insightful discussion, Dacher Keltner and Alan Cowen explore the profound impact of art on human emotions. They conducted a study with Google Arts and Culture, inviting 1,300 participants to rate 1,500 artworks across various periods and genres. Utilizing innovative statistical methods, they mapped the emotional responses to visual art, revealing the intricate connections between different feelings. The study sheds light on art's ability to foster community and shared experiences, emphasizing its power to evoke complex emotions like wonder, serenity, and admiration.

Takeaways

• 🎨 Dacher Keltner was influenced by his parents' emphasis on art and emotions from a young age.
• 🌟 Art is a powerful medium that can evoke complex emotions like wonder, serenity, and admiration.
• 🤝 The shared experience of art can facilitate human connection and bonding over common feelings.
• 🧠 The science of art and emotion is exploring the variety of emotions visual art can elicit.
• 👨‍🔬 Dacher Keltner collaborated with Alan Cowen from UC Berkeley to study the emotional impact of art.
• 📊 They conducted a study involving 1,300 participants rating 1,500 pieces of art across different periods and genres.
• 📈 Alan Cowen utilized innovative statistical techniques to analyze the emotional responses to the art.
• 🗺️ The study created an emotional map illustrating the relationships between different emotions triggered by visual art.
• 👀 The emotional map is an invitation for individuals to explore and compare their feelings with the study's findings.
• 🎶 The script is accompanied by music, suggesting an immersive and emotional experience for the listener.

Q & A

What was Dacher Keltner's early exposure to art?

Dacher Keltner was fortunate to have parents who introduced him to museums from an early age, encouraging him to reflect on his feelings and thoughts about different paintings, which taught him about life and the human condition.

How does the science of emotion relate to the experience of art, according to Dacher Keltner?

Dacher Keltner suggests that the science of emotion shows that our passions are ways of looking at the world that teach us about justice, harm, love, and what it means to be part of a human community.

What was Alan Cowen and his team interested in documenting?

Alan Cowen and his team were interested in documenting the power of art to reliably evoke nuanced feelings such as wonder, serenity, and admiration.

Why is the context of art significant for experiencing complex emotions, as mentioned by Alan Cowen?

Alan Cowen believes that art provides a rare context in everyday life where people can experience complex emotions together, highlighting art's power to connect and bond individuals over shared experiences.

What question does the new science of art and emotion aim to answer, according to Dacher Keltner?

The new science of art and emotion aims to answer how many different emotions visual art can create in viewers.

What was the collaboration between Dacher Keltner and Alan Cowen at UC Berkeley?

Dacher Keltner and Alan Cowen collaborated on a study with Google Arts and Culture to understand the range of emotions that visual art can evoke in viewers.

How many people and pieces of art were involved in the study conducted by Keltner and Cowen?

The study involved 1,300 participants who provided emotional ratings for 1,500 pieces of visual art.

What methodological approach did Alan Cowen pioneer for this study?

Alan Cowen pioneered new statistical techniques to analyze the data from the emotional ratings of the art pieces.

What did the study produce in terms of understanding the emotions evoked by visual art?

The study produced a map that illustrates the different relationships between emotions evoked by visual art.

How does Dacher Keltner encourage people to engage with the findings of the study?

Dacher Keltner encourages people to explore the map of emotions produced by the study and compare it with their own feelings about different paintings.