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Do I really feel it? The contributions of subjective fluency and compatibility in low-level effects on aesthetic appreciation.

ABSTRACT: The causes for the liking of objects are multifaceted. According to the processing fluency account, the ease with which an object is processed leads to a subjective feeling of fluency. This subjective feeling is then interpreted as a positive reaction toward the object resulting higher liking. However, evidence regarding the processes underlying this relation is scarce. To show that the subjective feeling can indeed be responsible for liking, we experimentally manipulated processing ease by providing false physiological feedback (varying skin conductance indicated varying feelings of fluency) and by varying presentation times between 100 and 400 ms while participants viewed line drawings of objects and rated them for liking. A first experiment showed that both false physiological feedback and presentation duration influenced liking. Stimuli primed with a (fake) visualization of a physiological correlate of high ease of processing were liked more than stimuli primed with a low ease of processing. Liking ratings in a no-feedback condition fell between the high and low feedback conditions. To explore possible compatibility effects of coupling visual feedback to the fluency interpretation, in a second experiment we reversed the feedback interpretation-visualization of high skin conductance now indicated low ease of processing. The results show a similar pattern, though the effect was subtler. This indicates that when the coupling of feedback to fluency is less apparent or less compatible, the feeling is less strongly linked to liking. Our results support the claim that variations in the feeling of fluency affect the appreciation of objects in terms of liking. Together, the experiments suggest the contributions of processing ease as well as compatibility to the experience of liking.

SUBMITTER: Forster M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4481155 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Do I really feel it? The contributions of subjective fluency and compatibility in low-level effects on aesthetic appreciation.

Forster Michael M Fabi Wolfgang W Leder Helmut H

Frontiers in human neuroscience 20150626

The causes for the liking of objects are multifaceted. According to the processing fluency account, the ease with which an object is processed leads to a subjective feeling of fluency. This subjective feeling is then interpreted as a positive reaction toward the object resulting higher liking. However, evidence regarding the processes underlying this relation is scarce. To show that the subjective feeling can indeed be responsible for liking, we experimentally manipulated processing ease by prov ...[more]

PMID: 26167147

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Project description:Various species of wild, adaptable, medium-sized carnivores occur outside of protected areas, often coming into contact with people and their domestic animals. Negative human-carnivore interactions can lead to antagonistic attitudes and behavior directed at such species. In the South African Karoo, a semi-arid rangeland, the predation of small-livestock by mesopredators is common and farmers typically use a combination of non-lethal and lethal methods to try and prevent livestock losses. We used ethnographic field observations and semi-structured interviews as part of a mixed methods approach, including the quantitative and qualitative analysis of farmers' narratives to illustrate the nuanced ways in which sheep farmers relate to the two mesopredators that consume the most livestock on their farms; black-backed jackal and caracal. Overall, farmers attributed negative characteristics to jackal and caracal but farmers' narratives provided evidence of complex perceptions in that the animals were admired as well as disliked. Both species were seen as charismatic due to traits such as their physical appearance, their "cunning" nature and their remarkable adaptability to human activities, including lethal control. Aesthetic appreciation was an important predictor of tolerance towards both species whereas negative attitudes were associated with the perception that mesopredators should only occur within protected areas. Attitudes towards jackals also appeared to have been affected by cultural representations of them as "thieves". We showed that perceiving mesopredators as beautiful increased the average marginal probability of a farmer tolerating them, and that this strong relationship held when controlling for other covariates such as livestock predation. We advocate the importance of understanding the cultural and aesthetic aspects of predators and considering existing positive dimensions of human-wildlife relationships that may encourage increased farmers' tolerance, which might promote coexistence.

Dataset Information

Do I really feel it? The contributions of subjective fluency and compatibility in low-level effects on aesthetic appreciation.

Publications

Do I really feel it? The contributions of subjective fluency and compatibility in low-level effects on aesthetic appreciation.

Similar Datasets

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