A series of experiments upon aesthetic appreciation in children / by Henry J. Watt.

  • Watt, Henry J. (Henry Jackson), 1879-1925.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A series of experiments upon aesthetic appreciation in children / by Henry J. Watt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Glasgow University Library O. 1. m W- (?<p 3ol_lf. APRIL, 1910. Cbilb-Stu^. ftbc journal of tbc Cbilb*5tub\> Society A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS UPON ESTHETIC APPRECIATION IN CHILDREN.'* By HENRY J. WATT, Lecturer on Psychology in the University of Glasgow. i. One of the great leaders of modem experimental psychology was also the founder of the science of experimental cesthetics. The science that Fechner created attempts to analyse the processes that are present when any object is liked for its own sake, apart from any utilitarian, educational, or other extraneous motive. It has to determine what kinds of objects give this direct enjoyment,, and to trace the relation between the latter and each element of the former which can be experi- mentally distinguished. Some part of the total pleasure may be pro- duced by the sensory impressions given by the artistic object, and some part may be given by the arrangement of its elements, or by the series of mental processes which are evoked by these. If we remember the variety of mental states which may be excited by a complex sensory impression, we see at once that there is no mental state which may not at some time enter into and contribute to the total aesthetic enjoyment attaching to a work of art It is, of course, problematic how far any given mental state can enter into aesthetic enjoyment without being changed in character, and what it is that then converts it into a state capable for the time of adding to or hindering aesthetic pleasure. There is certainly an aesthetic attitude which makes such differences; it is probably responsible for the clear line of demarcation between aesthetic * An account of these experiments was given in 1907 to the Child-Study Society of Liverpool, and in 1909 to the Child-Study Society, of Dundee and Edinburgh. 1 lie paper, now published at the request of the editor, follows closely the lines of the lectures. A. * B