How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration

by Ellen Winner

There is no end of talk and of wondering about 'art' and 'the arts.' This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Examples

· What makes something art?
· Can anything be art?
· Do we experience "real" emotions from the arts?
· Why do we seek out and even cherish sorrow and fear from art when we go out of our way to avoid these very emotions in real life?
· How do we decide what is good art? Do aesthetic judgments have any objective truth value?
· Why do we devalue fakes even if we -- indeed, even the experts--- can't tell them apart from originals?
· Does fiction enhance our empathy and understanding of others? Is art-making therapeutic?

Others are "common sense" questions that laypersons wonder about. Examples

· Does learning to play music raise a child's IQ?
· Is modern art something my kid could do?
· Is talent a matter of nature or nurture?

This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Psychology, Art History, Design

320 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2018

About the author

Ellen Winner is a psychologist and a professor at Boston College. She specializes in psychology of art.

Winner graduated from the Putney School in 1965 and received a PhD in developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1978. She collaborated on Project Zero to conduct studies about the way people experience and perceive art. Winner noted how psychological explorations beginning in the realm of philosophy pertained to art.

From 1995 to 96, Winner served as president of the American Psychological Association Division 10. In 2000, Winner was awarded the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts.

Reviews

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

فکر میکنم قبل از اینکه ریویوو این کتاب رو بذارم، موظفم یک مطلب رو توضیح بدم. بعد اگه خواستید بقیش رو بخونید و ممنون میشم اگه بخونیدش! هرچند میدونم ریویوو من حق مطلب رو حتی یذره ادا نمیکنه و فقط امیدوارم مشوقی باشه برای خوندن کتاب.
صادقانه بگم که من کتاب رو نخوندم (طبق تعریفی که از خوندن کتاب داریم)، چون اولا پی دی اف فونت ریز بود و ثانیا ترجمه هم نداشت. امااا معرفی کتاب که شامل توضیحات کامل و مفصل تمام مباحث مطرح شده در اون میشه رو از کانال تلگرام دکتر آذرخش مکری گوش دادم و هم زمان هایلایت های کتاب رو هم خوندم و تصاویری که درموردشون صحبت شده بود رو هم دیدم.
پس در حقیقت من خود کتاب رو نخوندم اما جمع‌بندی کسی که کتابو خونده بود شنیدم. این فایل های صوتی اصلا با پادکست های خلاصه کتاب یا بی پلاس و اینها قابل مقایسه نیست، خیییلی جزییات داره و چون یک روانشناس روی این کتاب روانشناسی توضیح میده، خیلی شاخ و برگ بیشتر داره و جذاب تره و آموزنده تر هم هست (به شرطی که دکتر مکری رو دوست داشته باشید و کمی روانشناسی هم خونده باشید).
بهرحال با وجود اینکه من اصل کتابو نخوندم، خواستم اینجا ادش کنم شاید که کسی ببینه و علاقمند بشه بره بخونه یا بشنوه درموردش. وگرنه که تعداد کتاب و رکورد گودریدز برای من اهمیتی ندارن.
.................

«هنر چیست؟» یکی از قدیمی ترین و جذاب ترین سوال های فلسفی تاریخ بشره، که ظاهراً هرگز پاسخ قانع کننده ای بهش داده نشده و توافق نظری درموردش وجود نداره.
اما اینجا، در کتاب «هنر چگونه کار می کند؟»، خانم «الن وینر» بعنوان یک روانشناس و پژوهشگر سعی میکنه نه از دیدگاه فلسفی، بلکه از دید روانشناختی و جامعه شناسی یکبار برای همیشه به این بحث پایان بده.
اون این نظریه رو مطرح می کنه که: اگر هنر یک پدیده انسانیه، پس شاید به جای دنبال کردن این پرسش که «هنر چیست؟»، باید بپرسیم «از نظر مردم چه چیزی هنر است؟» و مهمتر این که «ما درباره آثار هنری چه فکری می کنیم؟»
 اینجا الن وینر، نحوه تفکر ما در مورد هنر (از جمله ادبیات، سینما، موسیقی، هنرهای تجسمی) رو از طریق معرفی تحقیقات آکادمیک انجام شده، بررسی نظریه هایی که پرسش هایی درباره هنر مطرح کردن، و همچنین سابقه تاریخی الگوهای فکری و نظریات مدرن درباره هنر ، هدایت میکنه.
خانم وینر توی هر فصل سوالات خیلی جالبی درباره هنر مطرح می‌کنه و همونجا هم بهش جواب میده. سوالاتی نظیر اینکه:
شکسپیر بهتره یا سروانتس ؟
آیا هنر عملکرد ذهن رو بهتر می‌کنه یا تاثیری بر هوش داره؟
چه فرقی بین ارزش هنری نقاشی خلاقانه یک بچه پنج ساله با یک اثر اکسپرسیونیست انتزاعی از هلن فرانکنتالر وجود داره؟
آیا هنر، کارکرد درمانی هم داره؟
آیا چیزی به نام موسیقی غمگین وجود داره؟ یعنی آیا یک قطعه موسیقی (یا هر اثر هنری) ذاتاً حاوی یا تجسم بخش ویژگی خاصی هست؟
خانم وینر یک چشم انداز ذهنی جالب رو هم توی کتابش بررسی می کنه که از نظر من جالب ترین بخش کتابه و شامل بررسی تأثیرات شخصی، اجتماعی، فرهنگی و تاریخی روی درک هنری ماست. اون معتقده درسته که قلمروهای هنر بدون مرزه، اما تحقیقات نشون میده که واکنش های ما به آثار هنری و انگیزه های ما از دنبال کردن نوع خاصی از هنر (طرفداری از سبک خاص یا بند خاصی) خیلی زیاد تحت تاثیر محیطه.

خلاصه اینکه این کتاب سوالات جذاب و پاسخ های شگفت انگیزی رو مطرح می‌کنه که احتمالا تاحالا جای دیگه ای بهش برخورد نکردید.

[Hamed Manoochehri · Rating 5 out of 5]

این دقیقاً همون چیزی بود که میخواستم بدونم: یه توضیح مُفصل ولی به زبان ساده درباره کارکرد هنر از نظر روانشناسی. وینر با اینکه از جواب های فیلسوفانه طفره نمیره و درصورت نیاز بحث فلسفی رُ هم وارد موضوع بحث میکنه اما این موارد رُ در کمیت حداقلی نگه می‌دارد.
یه نکته مهم درباره این کتاب اجتنابش هست از جواب های مقطوع و سیاه/سفید. نویسنده همیشه به هر دو طرف موافق و مخالف بحث ارجاع عادلانه داره و در صورت لزوم تصمیم نهایی رُ به عهده تحقیقات گسترده تر میذاره.
اگه دوست دارید درباره این بدونید که:
چرا در مواجه با هنر احساساتی میشیم؟
روانشناسی دلیل پیدایش هنر رُ چی میدونه؟
آیا کسایی که فیکشن میخونن همذات پنداری بیشتری دارن یا نه؟
آیا کسایی فیلم ترسناک میبینن روانپریشن یا نه؟
و یا آیا هنر انتزاعی و هنر کودک هیچ غرقی دارن یا نه؟ این کتاب خیلی به کار شما میاد.

[Lily Borovets]

Good one. Exploring how people think about art, what they feel while being exposed to art, and, well, does art makes us more intelligent (more empathetic, compassionate, intellectually curious, etc.) powered by cognitive, psychological research.

[Mardel Fehrenbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written book and one that is quite interesting in many ways. And yet it is a book I had trouble sticking with, not because of the writing, not because there were not interesting and valid points to be made, but primarily because the author’s reading of the subject was perhaps too narrow. There are books with which I may disagree with the author, strongly even perhaps, but in which I the reader cannot help but admire the intelligence of the author and the challenge posed in reading, books in which reading, and even disagreeing, becomes an enlightening experience. This was not such a book.

That does not mean this book was not very good, nor that the author does not adequately explore her subject and even enlighten the reader. Winner references all kinds of interesting studies, and yet, despite this, this particular reader felt disappointed, as if the book were headed in a good direction but stopped short of some elusive understanding. That said I am glad I read it and it is thought-provoking, original, even somewhat enriching. So perhaps it is on me that I wanted more...

[Dylan Zhou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book on my daily commute to the office on the train for the past few weeks. It provides a comprehensive and mostly interesting review of art (visual art and music), covering the debate over what counts as art, how art affects us emotionally, how people judge art, and how art affects our intelligence and empathy when we engage with and/or make it. I would say of the content in this book has likely crossed your mind before (like how can you be emotionally affected by a song, or does doing art make kids smarter?) but the strength of this book is that it is well researched and presents multiple perspectives on the answers to such questions before arguing for which is the most convincing point of view. I found the sections on emotions and intelligence to be pretty interesting. Overall, good book to pass the time with, it’s mildly entertaining, and I would recommend if you are interested in some “theory”/philosophical basis/(neuro)science behind art.

[Declan Cochran · Rating 3 out of 5]

its a very well written and interesting book, and winner's command of psychology is first-rate. but i can't help but feel that the terms of her study are flawed: a purely psychological overview of art and how it affects us is only half the story. in sticking so close to her aims she lets mistakes through, such as her sadly misguided reading of bourdieu (i picture an alternative chapter where she digs into the ways class affects how we view art, instead of simply disagreeing with him). but this is an original and interesting book and one im glad i read. it just left me feeling more strongly that art cannot be divorced from the political, the personal, and so on, instead of the opposite, which i think winner was getting at in her aims.

still tho: anyone interested in art should read this, the studies she uses are illuminating. dont think my critiques mean this isn't a recommendation.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellen Winner’s How Art Works is a fascinating book that looks at art from a psychologist’s point of view. Instead of asking what makes something “good” or “beautiful,” the book focuses on how art affects our brains and emotions and why that matters.
It’s written in a clear way, backed up with real studies. You don’t need a background in psychology to enjoy it.

It tackles many topics, such as what “qualifies as art”, the emotional impact of art, how do we judge art, our perception of art, the power of ambiguity, etc. It is a must-read for artists, creatives, and anyone curious about why do we care so much about art.

As someone who works across illustration, graphic design and advertising, I’m really glad I’ve read this book. I took plenty of notes along the way and it gave me a lot to reflect on.

[Frederic De meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an academic, the author is by nature limited to the quantifiable effects of art. No mention of any spiritual or even societal impact art might have, now or in the past. Once you accept these limits the book offers a thorough and, at moment, highly enjoyable study in the various functions of art, supported where possible with some very original and interesting experiments. Not all areas are backed by such experiments, but the author is honest enough to state whenever it is, or whenever she is expressing her own opinion.

At any rate, it is by far the most complete en insightful book I've read so far about this subject.

[Gerald Sierveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as the subject matter is very wide -- the book relates this broadly-scoped material, at least to me, in useful "chunks" that any reader/researcher can go about accessing via its very useful and exhaustive interactive index so readers can use and go right into what I would call a fantastic social and scientific research "handbook" instead of just a typical, run-of-the-mill non-fiction tome of "how art works".

[Rae Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary of research. Copied conclusion. Borrowed from Minuteman.