Art education and aesthetic assessment of individual serial reproductions of visual stimuli

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between psychology students (N=270) and art students (N=90) in aesthetic evaluations of visual stimuli. The stimuli were obtained by using Bartlett's method of individual serial reproduction of geometric, realistic and abstract drawings with additional instruction to increase originality. The assessments were performed on the following Semantic Differential Scales: arousal potential (AP), primordial content (PC), liking scale (DL) and artistic value scale (AV). Psychology students and art students do not differ in overall AP scores, but there is a statistically significant interaction of education type and type of stimuli. Psychology students give statistically higher average AP assessments to reproductions of realistic and abstract stimuli, and art students to geometric stimuli. Psychology students like the drawings obtained by "individual" reproduction more (DL) and give them a higher artistic value (AV) than the art students. This finding is in line with earlier research that respondents without art education have milder criteria, that is, art students are more strict evaluators. The findings are in line with Kozbelt's data that subjects without artistic education value more, and are therefore more interested in technical skill and realism, while "artists" primarily value originality (Kozbelt 2006). It can be concluded that respondents without art education and respondents with art education show similar trends in evaluating serial reproductions, but that they apply different aesthetic criteria and evaluation principles.