THE ROLE OF GENRE AND COGNITION

IN CHILDREN’S ART APPRECIATION

Laura SchneebaumDepartment of Applied Psychology

Dr. Gigliana Melzi & Adina Schick

The NYU Child Language Research Team

Steinhardt Dean’s Grant for Student Research

Applied Psychology Departmental Research Grant

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Art has been an essential part of everyday life for many centuries.

Although works of art can be universally appreciated, they depict and represent the cultural reality of a specific time period.

Given the importance of art in transmitting culture across generations, one important area of focus has been on the ways in which children come to comprehend artistic pieces.

ART APPRECIATION

IMPORTANCE OF ART APPRECIATION

Art appreciation requires that children combine their understanding of the world, their emotions, and their interpretations of the work.

As children come to appreciate works of art they learn to construct meaning and articulate their thoughts.

Thus, engaging with and talking about art provides children with a forum for developing their literacy and communication skills.

Suburban versus urban setting

School environment

INFLUENCES OF ART APPRECIATION

Environmental Factors

Previous experience

Gender Age / Grade

Subject matter Artistic

characteristics Artistic style

Type of Artwork

Person-level Characteristics

DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION

Art Appreciation Progression

Sensorial StageColor, Representational Content

Concrete StageRealism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color

Expressive StageStyle, Form, Emotional Impact

DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION

Art Appreciation Progression

Sensorial StageColor, Representational Content

Concrete StageRealism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color

Expressive StageStyle, Form, Emotional Impact

Piagetian Cognitive Development

Formal Operational StageThinking is abstract and systematic

Concrete Operational StageThinking is logical and organized

Preoperational StageThinking is representational, lacks logic

DEVELOPMENT OF ART APPRECIATION

Art Appreciation Progression

Sensorial StageColor, Representational Content

Concrete StageRealism, Subject Matter, Art Quality, Color

Expressive StageStyle, Form, Emotional Impact

Piagetian Cognitive Development

Formal Operational StageThinking is abstract and systematic

Concrete Operational StageThinking is logical and organized

Preoperational StageThinking is representational, lacks logic

The present study examined children’s expression of art appreciation.

Two main questions guided the present study: 1.How do children talk about works from different artistic genre?

2.To what extent are the descriptions children provide related to their overall level of cognitive reasoning?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

40 children between the ages 8-13 (M = 130.83,SD = 22.89) were recruited to participate in this study.

Groups of children were evenly divided by gender.

All parents had at least a college education (M = 17.7, SD = 1.29).

All children resided in suburban settings.

PARTICIPANTS

Parents completed a demographic questionnaire designed to ascertain children’s previous experiences with art.

Children completed the Fun and Challenging Puzzles II (Bakken, 1995), a paper-and-pencil cognitive reasoning measure.

Children were shown 3 paintings and prompted to talk about them.

PROCEDURE

Landscape with Saint Jerome by Poussin

Landscape by Kandinsky

Landscape:The Parc Monceauby MonetRenaissance/Baroque Impressionism Abstraction Representational Semi-representational Abstract

What do you see in this painting? How would you feel if you were in the painting and why? How do you feel when you look at it and why? Why do you think the artist painted this particular scene in the way he did? If you saw this in a museum, why would you think it was famous? Would you put this in your room, why or why not? What do you like most about it and why? What do you like least about it and why?

SAMPLE PROMPTS

Children’s conversations about art were transcribed and verified using a standardized system (MacWhinney, 2000).

All utterances related to the artwork were coded for level of appreciation and artistic themes.

TRANSCRIPTION & CODING

Perceptual

Contextual

Analytical

• Attraction• Representation & Realism• Emotional Expression• Style & Form • Interpretation • Other

Contextual

Analytical

k = .87 k = .90

How do children talk about works from different artistic genre?

RESEARCH QUESTION 1:

Poussin Monet Kandinsky33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

4241.5 (23.0)

38.95 (22.9)

35.9 (22.5)

AMOUNT OF TALK BY GENRE

*

Num

ber o

f Ref

eren

ces

F(2, 38) = 5.23, p = .01

LEVEL OF APPRECIATION BY PAINTING TYPE

Poussin Monet Kandinsky0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16Perceptual Contextual Analytical

Mea

n P

erce

ntag

e

F(2, 38) = 7.91, p < .01

*

*

THEMES BY LEVEL: PERCEPTUAL

Kandinsky

Monet

Poussin

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Attraction Representation and Realism Other

THEMES BY LEVEL: CONTEXTUAL

Kandinsky

Monet

Poussin

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Attraction Representation and Realism Emotional Expression Style and Form Interpretation

THEMES BY LEVEL: ANALYTICAL

Kandinsky

Monet

Poussin

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Emotional Expression Style and Form Interpretation Other

To what extent are the descriptions children provide related to their overall

level of cognitive reasoning?

RESEARCH QUESTION 2:

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Perceptual Contextual Analytical

Gender -.06 -.03 .10

Age -.36* .30† .23

Grade -.38* .38* .21

*p < .05, †p = .06

Perceptual Contextual Analytical

MuseumVisits -.33* -.02 .41**

ClassroomExhibits -.12 .03 .12

Appreciation Classes -.04 -.06 .09

Production Classes -.07 .03 .07

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

**p < .01, * p < .05

Cognitive reasoning was positively correlated with analytical talk (r = .33, p < .05).

COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION

Predictors R2 ΔR2 (β) (SE) (B)Model 1 .17* .17Museum Visits 10.30 3.74 0.41

Model 2 .26* .10Museum Visits 9.88 3.57 0.39Cognitive Reasoning 1.62 0.73 0.31

Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 10% of the variance in analytical talk, controlling for museum visits.

COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION

Cognitive reasoning was negatively correlated with total amount of talk about Poussin (r = -.34, p < .05), and was positively correlated with amount of talk about Monet (r = .31, p = .05).

Poussin Monet KandinskyMuseum

Visits -.37* -.16 -.19

ClassroomExhibits .16 -.28 .12

Appreciation Classes -.07 -.00 .06

Production Classes -.01 -.01 .02

* p < .05

COGNITIVE REASONING AND ART APPRECIATION

Cognitive reasoning was negatively correlated with total amount of talk about Poussin (r = -.34, p < .05), and was positively correlated with amount of talk about Monet (r = .31, p = .05).

Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 13% of the variance in amount of talk about Poussin above and beyond museum visits.

Cognitive reasoning uniquely explained 10% of the variance in amount of talk about Monet.

Predictors R2 ΔR2 (β) (SE) (B)Model 1 .14* .14Museum Visits 3.56 1.46 0.37

Model 2 .26* .13Museum Visits 3.75 1.37 0.39Cognitive Reasoning -0.71 0.28 -0.36

Predictors R2 (β) (SE) (B)Cognitive Reasoning .10* .64 .32 .31

DISCUSSION

Results both support and expand on past findings that children’s talk about art varies based on the genre of the painting. The more realistic the artwork, the more children

focus on what they see in the painting. Children seem to have the most difficulty talking

about abstract paintings.

There seems to be a developmental progression in children’s level of art appreciation. Age/grade influence perceptual and contextual talk;

cognitive reasoning influences level of analytical talk. Children’s level of cognitive reasoning further

influences the type of painting they appreciate.

Representational

Semi-Representational

Abstract

IMPLICATIONS & FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The current study was exploratory in nature; future studies should further probe these relations: Larger sample size More experiential measures Longitudinal design

Numerous factors, including type of artwork and cognitive reasoning, appear to play a role in children’s art appreciation.

Art appreciation fosters children’s ability to formulate opinions and express their thoughts and feelings.

Current findings should be used to inform the development of art appreciation curricula.

“I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind…”