Description
While a growing body of literature explores adults' aesthetic experiences, research on how young children experience art remains limited and fragmented. Given that children are in distinct stages of cognitive, social, neural, and emotional development compared to adults, it is expected that their processing and understanding of art will differ. Moreover, much of the existing research on children's engagement with art tends to focus on its instrumental benefits, such as learning outcomes, often overlooking how children experience the intrinsic value of art. This intrinsic value includes the emotional responses art can evoke, which is a central element in many theories of aesthetic experience. Empirical studies also confirm that emotions play a crucial role in shaping our aesthetic experiences, ranging from physical sensations in the body, like shivers, to subjective feelings like happiness or anger. However, to date, the experience of such art-elicited emotions has not yet been studied in children.
This study aims to address this gap by investigating how children emotionally experience and interact with art. It draws on Scherer’s Component Process Model of Emotion, which defines emotion as consisting of five interconnected components: cognitive appraisal, expression, motivation, physiological responses, and subjective feelings. Specifically, the current research explores children’s emotional experience of technology-mediated art in a naturalistic setting - a family arts festival. Data will be collected over four consecutive days through direct observations, using a semi-structured observation scheme to assess responses such as vocal, facial and motor expressions, gestures, movements, and interactions with other visitors. Data collection is planned for October 2024, and preliminary findings will be shared at the conference.
| Names, affilations and contact information | Emilie Bossens, KU Leuven (Media Culture & Policy Lab, Meaningful Interactions Lab), emilie.bossens@kuleuven.be |
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| Bio | Emilie Bossens is a PhD researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium), holding Master's degrees in Communication Sciences, in Journalism, and in Management. She is affiliated with the Media Culture & Policy Lab and the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab) at KU Leuven. Her doctoral research is part of the Palettes project (Perception, Aesthetics, Literacy, and Experience Through Transdisciplinary Empirical Studies). This research program explores the perception and appreciation of (re-)presentation in image and art, and integrates disciplines of psychology, art history, communication science, and philosophy. In her PhD, Emilie focuses on how children emotionally experience art. She adopts a multi-method approach, integrating methodologies from Media and Communication Studies, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, and the Arts, with the goal of developing a multi-layered understanding of children’s art experiences. |