THE ROLE OF GENRE AND COGNITION

Transcription

1 THE ROLE OF GENRE AND COGNITION IN CHILDREN S ART APPRECIATION Laura Schneebaum Department of Applied Psychology

2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Gigliana Melzi & Adina Schick The NYU Child Language Research Team Steinhardt Dean s Grant for Student Research Applied Psychology Departmental Research Grant

3 ART APPRECIATION Art has been an essential part of everyday life for many centuries. Although works of art can be universally appreciated, they depict and represent the cultural reality of a specific time period. Given the importance of art in transmitting culture across generations, one important area of focus has been on the ways in which children come to comprehend artistic pieces.

4 IMPORTANCE OF ART APPRECIATION Art appreciation requires that children combine their understanding of the world, their emotions, and their interpretations of the work. As children come to appreciate works of art they learn to construct meaning and articulate their thoughts. Thus, engaging with and talking about art provides children with a forum for developing their literacy and communication skills.

5 INFLUENCES OF ART APPRECIATION Subject matter Artistic characteristics Type of Artistic Artwork style Suburban versus urban setting Environmental School environment Factors Previous experience Gender Person-level Characteristics Age / Grade

6 DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION Art Appreciation Progression Sensorial Stage Color, Representational Content Concrete Stage Realism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color Expressive Stage Style, Form, Emotional Impact

7 DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION Art Appreciation Progression Sensorial Stage Color, Representational Content Piagetian Cognitive Development Preoperational Stage Thinking is representational, lacks logic Concrete Stage Realism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color Concrete Operational Stage Thinking is logical and organized Expressive Stage Style, Form, Emotional Impact Formal Operational Stage Thinking is abstract and systematic

8 DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION Art Appreciation Progression Sensorial Stage Color, Representational Content Piagetian Cognitive Development Preoperational Stage Thinking is representational, lacks logic Concrete Stage Realism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color Concrete Operational Stage Thinking is logical and organized Expressive Stage Style, Form, Emotional Impact Formal Operational Stage Thinking is abstract and systematic

9 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The present study examined children s expression of art appreciation. Two main questions guided the present study: 1. How do children talk about works from different artistic genre? 2. To what extent are the descriptions children provide related to their overall level of cognitive reasoning?

10 PARTICIPANTS 40 children between the ages 8-13 (M = ,SD = 22.89) were recruited to participate in this study. Groups of children were evenly divided by gender. All parents had at least a college education (M = 17.7, SD = 1.29). All children resided in suburban settings.

11 PROCEDURE Parents completed a demographic questionnaire designed to ascertain children s previous experiences with art. Children completed the Fun and Challenging Puzzles II (Bakken, 1995), a paper-and-pencil cognitive reasoning measure. Children were shown 3 paintings and prompted to talk about them. Landscape with Saint Jerome Landscape:The Parc Monceau Landscape Renaissance/Baroque Representational Semi-representational Impressionism Abstraction by Poussin by Monet by Kandinsky

12 SAMPLE PROMPTS What do you see in this painting? How would you feel if you were in the painting and why? How do you feel when you look at it and why? Why do you think the artist painted this particular scene in the way he did? If you saw this in a museum, why would you think it was famous? Would you put this in your room, why or why not? What do you like most about it and why? What do you like least about it and why?

13 TRANSCRIPTION & CODING Children s conversations about art were transcribed and verified using a standardized system (MacWhinney, 2000). All utterances related to the artwork were coded for level of appreciation and artistic themes. Perceptual Contextual Analytical Attraction Representation & Realism Emotional Expression Style & Form Interpretation Other k =.87 k =.90

14 RESEARCH QUESTION 1: How do children talk about works from different artistic genre?

15 AMOUNT OF TALK BY GENRE Number of References (23.0) (22.9) F(2, 38) = 5.23, p = (22.5) Poussin Monet Kandinsky *

16 LEVEL OF APPRECIATION BY PAINTING TYPE * Perceptual Contextual Analytical F(2, 38) = 7.91, p <.01 Mean Percentage Poussin Monet Kandinsky *

17 THEMES BY LEVEL: PERCEPTUAL Attraction Representation and Realism Other Poussin Monet Kandinsky 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

18 THEMES BY LEVEL: CONTEXTUAL Attraction Representation and Realism Emotional Expression Style and Form Interpretation Poussin Monet Kandinsky 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

19 THEMES BY LEVEL: ANALYTICAL Emotional Expression Style and Form Interpretation Other Poussin Monet Kandinsky 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

20 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: To what extent are the descriptions children provide related to their overall level of cognitive reasoning?

21 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS Perceptual Contextual Analytical Gender Age -.36* Grade -.38*.38*.21 *p <.05, p =.06

22 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS Perceptual Contextual Analytical Museum Visits Classroom Exhibits Appreciation Classes Production Classes -.33* ** **p <.01, * p <.05

23 COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION Cognitive reasoning was positively correlated with analytical talk (r =.33, p <.05). Predictors R 2 ΔR 2 (β) (SE) (B) Model 1.17*.17 Museum Visits Model 2.26*.10 Museum Visits Cognitive Reasoning Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 10% of the variance in analytical talk, controlling for museum visits.

24 COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION Cognitive reasoning was negatively correlated with total amount of talk about Poussin (r = -.34, p <.05), and was positively correlated with amount of talk about Monet (r =.31, p =.05). Museum Visits Classroom Exhibits Appreciation Classes Production Classes Poussin Monet Kandinsky -.37* * p <.05

25 COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION Cognitive reasoning was negatively correlated with total amount of talk about Poussin (r = -.34, p <.05), and was positively correlated with amount of talk about Monet (r =.31, p =.05). Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 13% of the variance in amount of talk about Poussin above and beyond museum visits. Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 10% of the variance in amount of talk about Monet. Predictors R 2 ΔR 2 (β) (SE) (B) Model Predictors 1.14* R 2.14 (β) (SE) (B) Museum Cognitive Visits Reasoning.10* Model 2.26*.13 Museum Visits Cognitive Reasoning

26 DISCUSSION Representational Semi-Representational Results both support and expand on past findings that children s talk about art varies based on the genre of the painting. The more realistic the artwork, the more children focus on what they see in the painting. Children seem to have the most difficulty talking about abstract paintings. There seems to be a developmental progression in children s level of art appreciation. Age/grade influence perceptual and contextual talk; cognitive reasoning influences level of analytical talk. Children s level of cognitive reasoning further influences the type of painting they appreciate. Abstract

27 IMPLICATIONS & FUTURE DIRECTIONS Numerous factors, including type of artwork and cognitive reasoning, appear to play a role in children s art appreciation. Art appreciation fosters children s ability to formulate opinions and express their thoughts and feelings. Current findings should be used to inform the development of art appreciation curricula. The current study was exploratory in nature; future studies should further probe these relations: Larger sample size More experiential measures Longitudinal design

28 I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind