Psy 444   The Psychology of Aesthetics       Fall 1999

John P. McLaughlin, 213 Wolf;  x2752; johnmcl@udel.edu
Office hours: 1 - 2 W; 11 - 12 TR and by appointment.

Readings in the semester will be from (1) a text: Solso, R.L. (1994) Cognition and the Visual Arts, MIT: Cambridge,MA. and (2) selected articles that will be on regular and electronic reserve in the library. The electronic versions can be read and/or downloaded via Netscape and the Library has a set of instructions for doing this. A few additional pieces by me will also be available on the Web Page for the course. The URL is http://www.udel.edu/psych/johnmcl/Art.htm

There will be two essay exams, each of which will contribute a third of your total grade. The remaining third will come from a 3-4K-word term-paper and a short in-class talk based on your paper.
Date             Topic                     Reading                                Web                 ________________________________________________________________________
Aug 31     Introduction               McL-Introduction;                Fibonacci....
Sep 2             "                           Bornstein, 1-29
7              Vision                         Ch.1                                    Retinal anatomy
9              Brain                          Ch.2                                     Faces of Divisionism
14            Laterality                     McL-Hemispheric Spec.      Retinal-geniculate...
16                 "
21            Form                           Ch.3; Hoege
23            Visual Cognition           Ch.4; Teuber
28            Context                        Ch. 5
30            Eye movements            Ch. 6
Oct 5        Arousal                        Berlyne; Bornstein 29-35
7               Typicality                     Martindale,et al;Boselie
12             Review
14             MIDTERM
19             Typicality II                  Langlois & Roggman; Hekkert&Snelders
21             Arousal revisited           Martindale; Konecni
26             Perspective                   Ch.7
28                 "                               Ch.8
Nov 2        Canons                        Ch.9
4                Expertise                      Schmidt, et al
9                Evolution                      Dissanayake;Bornstein54-73
11              Development                Bornstein 40-54;Gardner
16              Creativity,Personality    Zuckerman,etal;Bornstein35-40
18              Papers
23                 "
30                 "
Dec 2            "
7                 Review
??               Final Exam