Aesthetics is concerned with beauty, art and perception. It also refers to the critique of art and design.

What is Aesthetics? Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with study of beauty as a whole and how people perceive things or objects. It is also involved in critiquing design and art. The word aesthetics is derived from aisthanomai or aisthetikos, a Greek word which means perception by the senses. When used in todays modern English, aesthetics may have different meanings as it is based on peoples perceptions. If something appeals to the senses of one person, it may not be so for the others. Generally though, aesthetics refers to peoples evaluation or critique of an object by the use of their senses. The study of aesthetics can be traced back from the time of great philosophers such as Plato. During his time, Platos idea of aesthetics referred to beauty that is near perfect. If something is near perfect, it was said to be aesthetically pleasing. Another philosopher, Immanuel Kant, believed that beauty does not reside in an object itself, but rather in the way people define or perceive it. Various other philosophers also tried to define what really is beautiful. For them, beauty has to have design, magnitude, uniformity, variety, simplicity, and intricacy. In todays modern society, aesthetics is used in the design of houses, buildings, and even entire cities. In business, aesthetics provides maximum benefit to companies through advertising and marketing successes. Campaigns that are perceived beautiful were a hit to the people. Products endorsed by beautiful celebrities become successful. But many still do not consider some of todays artistic expressions as aesthetic. Art forms that contain sexual content are said to be immoral and does not conform to the traditional basis of aesthetics. But all throughout the years, aesthetics is viewed as based on peoples perceptions. Objects do not have innate beauty in themselves, but rather they become beautiful if people find them as such. Aesthetics and Art:Aesthetics is a concept not easily broken down into simpler ideas, making it difficult to explain. When we speak of something that creates an aesthetic experience, we are usually talking about some form of art; yet the mere fact that we are discussing a work of art does not guarantee that we are also discussing aesthetics the two are not equivalent. Not all works of art necessarily create an aesthetic experience, for example when we look at a painting to determine how much we can sell it for. Aesthetics and Aesthetic Experience: Whatever the actual object in question, those studying aesthetics seek to understand why some things arouse positive reactions whereas others arouse negative ones. Why are we drawn to certain objects and repelled by others? The very question of how and why aesthetic experiences are created is itself also a subject of aesthetics. In this manner, the field of aesthetics begins to cross into the Philosophy of Mind because it touches on how and why aspects of our brain and consciousness operate. Some religious theists argue, for example, that concepts like beauty cannot exist in a materialistic universe with no gods.

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts What is creativity? Something creativity is both novel and appropriate. Novelty: generating new ideas Usefulness: relevant and appropriate ideas What is creativity? Creativity is the interaction among aptitude, process, and environment by which an individual or group produces a perceptible product that is both novel and useful as defined within a social context Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004 (p. 90) How can we study creativity? The Four Ps The Creative Person The Creative Process What is aesthetics? 1.Beauty in art and science Why should we study creativity? Guilfords (1950) presidential address argued that creativity was a key issue needing to be thoroughly researched Global competitiveness Creativity is a necessity to survive Creative people tend to be happier and more successful How can we measure creativity? Torrance Test for Consensual Creative Thinking Assessment Creative Personality Technique Assessments What is the relationship between creativity and intelligence? Creativity often appears in models of intelligence: Sternbergs Triarchic Model Guilfords Structure of Intellect Creativity and intelligence tend to be slightly but significantly related. Peer, Teacher, and Self Ratings The Creative Product The Creative Press (aka Environment)

2.What is pleasing to the eye

Relevant Professional Organizations APA Division 10The Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics and Creativity in the Arts http://www.science-of-aesthetics.org/ National Association for Gifted Children

http://www.apa.org/divisions/div10/ International Association of Empirical Aesthetics

http://www.nagc.org Convergent Practices Usually a linear process. 1- Define your Goal or Problem 2- Research potential concepts, Reference visual materials, and Reflect on others who have achieved similar goals 3- Develop the Concept; the idea or expression to be conveyed 4- Develop the Visual Component 5- Create and execute 6- Evaluate the results then revise and refine the work See Creativity and Convergent Production Consider the medium most suitable for your goal. Divergent Practices Usually a non-linear process that requires:

Intuition Experience Mimicry

The Basics of Two-Dimensional Art, often referred to as the Fundamentals or Foundations, can be defined as the "Elements and Principles of Composition" Composition (visual arts) Composition is the plan, placement or arrangement of the elements of art in a work. The general goal is to select and organize appropriate elements within the work in order to communicate ideas and feelings with the viewer. The visual elements (the vocabulary with which the visual artist composes) are:

Line--the literal element itself (see below) or a visual path that enables the eye to move within the piece Shape--areas defined by edges within the piece whether geometric or organic Value--the relative lightness or darkness of elements Texture--surface qualities which translate into tactile illusions Color--hues with their various values and intensities Direction--visual routes which take vertical, horizontal or diagonal paths Size--the relative dimensions and proportions of images or shapes to one another

The principles of composition within a picture are:

The picture plane--or activated space within an artwork Symmetry or Asymmetry--creating static or dynamic compositions, respectively Flow--the pathway followed by the viewer's eye when they view the image Spatial illusion--invoking a sense of space or perspective Dominance Structures--systems of hierarchy that promote flow, spatial illusion, and impact Areas of Focus--concentrated groups of line, shape, detail, or contrast

The artist determines what areas of focus of the art will be, and composes the work accordingly. The eyes of the viewer will then tend to linger over these points of focus. The illustration can be arranged in a harmonious whole that works together to produce a statement.
Creativity tests are typically divided into four main components: Divergent thinking, Convergent thinking, Artistic assessments and Self assessments. Divergent thinking is the ability to consciously generate new ideas that branch out to many possible solutions for a given problem. These solutions or responses are then scored on four components: 1) Originality - statistical infrequency of response 2) Fluency - number of responses 3) Flexibility - the degree of difference of the responses, in other words do they come from a single domain or multiple domains 4) Elaboration - the amount of detail of the response Convergent thinking is the ability to correctly hone in the single correct solution to a problem. In creativity convergent thinking often requires taking a novel approach to the problem, seeing the problem from a different perspective or making a unique association between parts of the problem. Theses solutions are scored either correct or incorrect. Artistic assessments are the evaluations of an artistic product (e.g., painting, story, poem, musical composition, collage, drawing etc.). Evaluations are typically done by two or more judges that must be in near agreement on the creativity of the product. Self assessments are person's responses to the amount of creativity a personal feels they exhibit. persons responses to the amount of creativity a person feels they exhibit. 10 Characteristics 1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet and at rest. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. This suggests a superior physical endowment, a genetic advantage. Yet it is surprising how often individuals who in their seventies and eighties exude energy and health remember childhoods plagued by illness. It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than to the superiority of their genes. 2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time. How smart they actually are is open to

question. It is probably true that what psychologists call the "g factor," meaning a core of general intelligence, is high among people who make important creative contributions. 3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility. There is no question that a playfully light attitude is typical of creative individuals. But this playfulness doesn't go very far without its antithesis, a quality of doggedness, endurance, perseverance. 4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality. Great art and great science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. The rest of society often views these new ideas. as fantasies without relevance to current reality. And they are right. But the whole point of art and science is to go beyond what we now consider real and create a new reality At the same time, this "escape" is not into a never-never land. What makes a novel idea creative is that once we see it, sooner or later we recognize that, strange as it is, it is true. 5. Creative people trend to be both extroverted and introverted. We're usually one or the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and observing the passing show. In fact, in current psychological research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to exhibit both traits simultaneously. 6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead. Yet there are good reasons why this should be so. These individuals are well aware that they stand, in Newton's words, "on the shoulders of giants." Their respect for the area in which they work makes them aware of the long line of previous contributions to it, putting their own in perspective. They're also aware of the role that luck played in their own achievements. And they're usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them. At the same time, they know that in comparison with others, they have accomplished a great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of security, even pride. 7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping. When tests of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers. 8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative. It is impossible to be creative without having first internalized an area of culture. So it's difficult to see how a person can be creative without being both traditional and conservative and at the same time rebellious and iconoclastic. Being only traditional leaves an area unchanged; constantly taking chances without regard to what has been valued in the past rarely leads to novelty that is accepted as an improvement. The artist Eva Zeisel, who says that the folk tradition in which she works is "her home," nevertheless produces ceramics that were recognized by the Museum of Modern Art as masterpieces of contemporary design. 9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. Without the passion, we soon lose interest in a difficult task. Yet without being objective about it, our work is not very good and lacks credibility.

10. Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment. Most would agree with Rabinow's words: "Inventors have a low threshold of pain. Things bother them." A badly designed machine causes pain to an inventive engineer, just as the creative writer is hurt when reading bad prose. Cognitive Rational Creative Individuals (cha. Of people) Self-disciplined, independent, often antiauthoritarian Zany sense of humor Able to resist group pressure, a strategy developed early More adaptable More adventurous Greater tolerance for ambiguity and discomfort Little tolerance for boredom Preference for complexity, asymmetry, openendedness High in divergent thinking ability High in memory, good attention to detail Broad knowledge background Need think periods Need supportive climate, sensitive to environment Need recognition, opportunity to share High aesthetic values, good aesthetic judgment Freer in developing sex role integration' lack of stereotypical male, female identification

Affective/Emotional-Social Creative Individuals A special kind of perception More spontaneous and expressive Unfrightened by the unknown, the mysterious, the puzzling; often attracted to it Resolution of dichotomies: selfish and unselfish; duty and pleasure; work and play; strong ego and egolessness Able to integrate More self-accepting; lack fear of own emotions, impulses, and thoughts Have more of themselves available for use, for enjoyment, for creative purposes; waste less of their time and energy protecting themselves Involved in more peak experiences, integration within the person and between the person and the world, and transcendence Physical/Sensing Creative Individuals Openness to experience, new ideas An internal locus of evaluation An ability to toy with elements and concepts

Capacity to be puzzled Ability to concentrate Ability to experience self as creative, as the originator of one's acts Willingness to be born every day Ability to accept conflict and tension rather than avoiding them Courage to let go of certainties, to be different, to be concerned with truth, to be certain of one's own feelings and thoughts and trust them Identify closely with the feelings and expectations of others Less repressed and defensive More curious More maturely autonomous and less dependent on views of others

Perceiving freshly Concern with outside and inside worlds Ability to defer closure and judgment

Skilled performance of the traditional arts High theoretical and aesthetic values