Symposium Summary:

For millennia, individuals and communities around the world have looked to the arts and humanities to cultivate human flourishing. In the last few years, policy recommendations have provided support for arts and culture-based well-being initiatives. More multi-modal empirical evidence is needed, however, to understand the mechanisms involved and the precise nature of the impact made. The Humanities and Human Flourishing (HHF) Project, based in the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center and including a growing international network of more than 150 social scientists, humanities scholars, and creative practitioners, is engaged in theoretical and empirical work to open up possibilities for the scientific study of the intrinsic benefits of cultural engagement. This symposium presents empirical research investigating the relationship between arts and culture and well-being. In the first presentation, HHF Project Director James Pawelski will present findings from a survey administered to a representative U.S. sample on their engagement in arts and humanities experiences and activities to explore the transformative impact this engagement can sometimes have. Next, Christa Mahlobo will present survey data looking at the role of racial and gender identity in the link between arts and humanities engagement and flourishing. In the third presentation, Katherine Cotter will offer the results of a study examining the flourishing effects of viewing art in a virtual gallery setting, focusing on connections between immersion during visits and emotional diversity of visitor experience. In the last presentation, MacKenzie Trupp will report on studies investigating the impact on mood and anxiety of viewing a single painting—either in person or online—and the potential value of priming videos for enhancing positive viewer outcomes. Jill Sonke, serving as discussant, will then share her thoughts and questions about the work described in these presentations.

Symposium Presentation 1: The Who and How of Transformation Through Culture: Exploring the Intrinsic Benefits of Personally Significant Arts-and-Humanities-Related Experiences and Activities

Presenter: James O. Pawelski

Abstract: An emerging body of research suggests that engaging with the arts and humanities (A&H) is, in general, conducive to one’s wellbeing. A number of open questions remain, however, such as: who experiences such wellbeing benefits, under what circumstances, and with respect to which facets of wellbeing? In a large, exploratory survey of 903 U.S. residents (nationally representative with respect to gender, age, race, income and region) conducted in late 2020, we attempted to shed light on these questions by having participants describe both (1) their most personally significant A&H-related discrete experiences (e.g., performing at a particular concert), and (2) most personally significant everyday A&H-related recurrent activities (e.g., a longstanding guitar-playing hobby), as well as (3) complete self-report measures of personality (i.e., the Big Five) and well-being (i.e., the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving). Using this data, we will address three specific questions (analyses in progress): To what extent are retrospective reports of the transformativeness (or impactfulness) of one’s most personally significant forms of A&H engagement associated with present reports of different facets of well-being? How is personality associated with the perceived transformativeness of one’s most personally significant forms of A&H engagement? Finally, to what extent do specific personality traits moderate the association between perceived transformativeness and present-day well-being? The findings of this study will provide a range of insights into who experiences well-being benefits from A&H engagement, and how.

Symposium Presentation 2: Racial and Gender Identity and the RAISE Mechanisms of Engagement in the Arts and Humanities

Presenter: Christa T. Mahlobo

Abstract: There is substantial interest among psychologists in the psychological processes of engaging with the arts and humanities. Recent theoretical work has identified the five RAISE mechanisms as factors that underlie the associations between arts and humanities engagement and individual flourishing: Reflection (an intentional process of developing, reinforcing, or discarding habits, values, or worldviews), Acquisition (the process of gaining skills, experience, or knowledge through engagement with the arts), Immersion (having attention captured by the art engagement, feeling flow during the engagement, or feeling “carried away”), Socialization (the processes of social bonding or conversations during art engagement), and Expression (expressing oneself in creative and novel ways). Given the many links between arts and humanities engagement and flourishing outcomes (e.g., reduced risk of developing dementia, increases in positive affect, greater longevity), it is important to understand the factors that may be responsible for these effects. However, it is unclear how these mechanisms of engagement may be influenced by an individual’s identity, such as their racial or ethnic identity or their gender identity. This is especially important as artistic and humanistic products are rooted in specific cultural traditions and may be more or less relevant to individuals holding different identities. Using a recently developed toolkit of measures for assessing these mechanisms, a sample of over 2,000 adults across the United States was recruited via Prolific and Qualtrics Panels. Preliminary analyses suggest that identity plays an important role in the link between arts and humanities engagement and flourishing and in the expression of mechanisms theorized to be involved in this relationship.

Symposium Presentation 3: Virtual Art Visits and Flourishing: Examining the Roles of Immersion and Emotional Diversity

Presenter: Katherine N. Cotter

Abstract: Visiting art museums has been associated with a range of flourishing outcomes, including greater social connection and experiences of positive emotions. But there have been recent shifts towards increasing digital engagement with art, leading to a radical change in how people experience visual art. Given the now expansive virtual art viewing options, it is important to understand whether digital engagement can also lead to greater flourishing, and if so under what conditions. We examined the flourishing effects of viewing art in a virtual gallery and the connections between immersion during visits and emotional diversity. Participants were recruited from a U.S. representative sample on Prolific, resulting in a final sample of 687 participants, and completed four weekly virtual art viewing sessions. Following each session, participants completed short measures of flourishing and immersion and rated the extent to which they experienced a range of positive, negative, and aesthetic emotions. From these emotion ratings, we obtained three diversity metrics: 1) Variety – the number of discrete emotions experienced during the visit; 2) Evenness – for the emotions experienced, the degree to which emotions were experienced at a similar intensity; and 3) Dominance – for the emotions experienced, the degree to which one or a few emotions dominated the visit. Using multilevel models, we examined the degree to which emotional diversity varies between visits, the relation between emotional diversity and immersion and flourishing, and how emotional diversity may be shaped by how people engage with the art (e.g., number of artworks visited, time spent in front of artworks). Preliminary analyses suggest that immersion during visits is an important factor shaping the nature of people’s emotional experience when viewing art.

Symposium Presentation 4: Online, In-Person, and Enhanced One-Painting Art Interventions for Well-Being: How Does a Short Art Viewing Experience Positively Impact Mood and Anxiety?

Presenter: MacKenzie Trupp

Abstract: The arts are now frequently recognized in positive psychology, public health, and psychology for their ability to support well-being and prevent ill-being. Under this umbrella, art viewing is utilized in various settings to support pain and stress management and uplift mood in clinical patients and the general public. Characteristically these activities have been widely varied and ill-defined, calling for a more fine-grained assessment of art-viewing activities. In this talk, I will discuss the results of several studies examining the potential and efficacy of bite-sized, one-painting art interventions on aspects of well-being. Both in-person at the Albertina Museum in Vienna (N = 111) and online (N = 84) with a Google Arts and Culture exhibition, we found and replicated (N = 240) that a short viewing of one Monet painting positively impacted well-being aspects. In these studies, we discovered that an individual’s subjective experience is an essential active ingredient, finding that those who had pleasurable and meaningful experiences improved their anxiety and mood. Further, we found that those whose personalities were generally responsive to aesthetic stimuli could derive more from art viewing due to their enhanced experiences. Lastly, we examine the feasibility of enhancing art viewing for the general public. We test if improvements in well-being are greater when participants watch a priming video co-designed with arts, philosophy, and scientific professionals to improve art viewing experiences (N = 100). We compare this to the effects of an unprimed gallery visit at the National Gallery in London (N = 100). Overall, the results have implications for art intervention and gallery design and cultural and well-being policy.