The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) is a
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
founded to scientifically investigate the nature of
aesthetic experience
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
and aesthetic behavior. The group has members in over 25 countries. IAEA was founded at the first international congress in Paris in 1965 by
Daniel Berlyne
Daniel Ellis Berlyne (April 25, 1924 – November 2, 1976) was a British and Canadian psychologist. Berlyne worked at several universities both in Canada and the United States. His work was in the field of experimental and exploratory psycholo ...
,
Robert Francés
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
,
Carmelo Genovese, and
Albert Wellek.
Background
Although IAEA has been active for half a century, the domain of experimental aesthetics is much older. It is the second-oldest branch of scientific psychology, traditionally dating from 1876, the year Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) published his ''Vorschule der Aesthetik'' (Preschool of Aesthetics). Fechner, who also is credited with founding psychophysics, established methods for examining aesthetic response to a variety of visual forms, including an exploration of the venerable Golden Section hypothesis. Since the inception of IAEA in 1965, research on empirical aesthetics has continued to progress, with many pioneers prominent in its membership: witness, for instance, such classic books such as Daniel Berlyne's (1971) ''Aesthetics and Psychobiology'', Colin Martindale's (1990) ''The Clockwork Muse: The Predictability of Artistic Change'', or a variety of more recent contributions from IAEA's current members.
Current situation
The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) is an organization of researchers who use scientific methods to investigate aesthetic experience and aesthetic behavior in a wide variety of domains, including encounters with beauty, visual art, music, literature, film, theater, philosophy, and museum behavior. Membership includes individuals from psychology, neuroscience, sociology, museology, art history, philosophy, musicology, and other domains.
Currently, the officers of IAEA are President Thomas Jacobsen (Hamburg), Secretary Stefano Mastandrea (Rome) and Treasurer Christoph Redies (Jena).
IAEA organizes bi-annual conferences. IAEA is closely associated with the journal ''
Empirical Studies in the Arts''. IAEA gives several awards to recognize excellence in empirical research on aesthetics and creativity:
* The
Gustav Theodor Fechner Award for Outstanding Contributions to
Empirical Aesthetics;
* The Sir Francis Galton Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Study of Creativity;
* The Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Award for Outstanding Contributions of Young Scientists;
* The Robert Francès Award for Most Outstanding Student Research Contribution.
Former presidents
*Robert Francés (1965-1969)
*
Daniel Berlyne
Daniel Ellis Berlyne (April 25, 1924 – November 2, 1976) was a British and Canadian psychologist. Berlyne worked at several universities both in Canada and the United States. His work was in the field of experimental and exploratory psycholo ...
(1970-1971)
*Irvin Child (1973-1975)
*Pavel Machotka (1983-1985)
*François Molnar (1985-1990)
*Gerald Cupchik (1990-1994)
*Colin Martindale (1994-1998)
*Dean Keith Simonton (1998-2000)
*Paolo Bonaiuto (2000-2004)
*Paul Locher (2004-2008)
*Holger Höge (2008-2012)
*Anjan Chatterjee (2012-2014)
*
Helmut Leder (2014-2018)
External links
IAEA website
Aesthetics organizations
International scientific organizations
Psychological societies
International organisations based in Italy
1965 establishments in France
Organizations established in 1965
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