Arkadiusz Urbanek, Anna Borkowska, Wojciech Milczarski, Jarosław Zagrobelny, Jerzy Luty, Michał Białek
{"title":"Bullshit (Sometimes) Makes the Art (Slightly) More Attractive: A Field Study in Gallery-Goers","authors":"Arkadiusz Urbanek, Anna Borkowska, Wojciech Milczarski, Jarosław Zagrobelny, Jerzy Luty, Michał Białek","doi":"10.1177/02762374241237981","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Vague, impressive language used in descriptions (bullshit) is thought to make art seem more profound and valuable to the viewer. We studied the effect during art exhibitions in real-life gallery-goers who saw paintings of four artists, each with either simplified, neutral, or bullshitty description. We crafted a typical description of each painting, which we later manipulated in terms of language. A simplified description was modified to be concrete and simplistic, while a bullshitty one was very abstract and vague. After analyzing over 1500 ratings, we found the expressive language of descriptions had a negligible effect on the perceived quality and monetary value of art ( R<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> marginal ≤ 1%). We conclude that, at least for experienced gallery-goers, the description accompanying a painting has little influence, and the art speaks for itself.","PeriodicalId":45870,"journal":{"name":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Empirical Studies of the Arts","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241237981","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Vague, impressive language used in descriptions (bullshit) is thought to make art seem more profound and valuable to the viewer. We studied the effect during art exhibitions in real-life gallery-goers who saw paintings of four artists, each with either simplified, neutral, or bullshitty description. We crafted a typical description of each painting, which we later manipulated in terms of language. A simplified description was modified to be concrete and simplistic, while a bullshitty one was very abstract and vague. After analyzing over 1500 ratings, we found the expressive language of descriptions had a negligible effect on the perceived quality and monetary value of art ( R2 marginal ≤ 1%). We conclude that, at least for experienced gallery-goers, the description accompanying a painting has little influence, and the art speaks for itself.
期刊介绍：
Empirical Studies of the Arts (ART) aims to be an interdisciplinary forum for theoretical and empirical studies of aesthetics, creativity, and all of the arts. It spans anthropological, psychological, neuroscientific, semiotic, and sociological studies of the creation, perception, and appreciation of literary, musical, visual and other art forms. Whether you are an active researcher or an interested bystander, Empirical Studies of the Arts keeps you up to date on the latest trends in scientific studies of the arts.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
