Psyc 444    The Psychology of Aesthetics      Fall 2002
Tuesday-Thursday, 9:30 - 10:45   306 Gore Hall

John P. McLaughlin
151 Maintenance Center;  x2752; johnmcl@udel.edu

Office hours:1 - 2 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
(12-16 pages with normal margins, font, etc.) and a short in-class talk
based on your paper. The paper must review some area of scientific
research in psychology that investigated issues relevant to aesthetics or
artistic behavior. Please clear your topic with me before investing a lot
of time on it.  

 

Date              Topic                     Readings
________________________________________________________________________
Sep 5           Introduction          McL-Introduction;  	
10                 "		      Bornstein, 1-29
12              Vision                Ch.1
17              Brain                 Ch.2                 
19              Laterality            McL-Hemispheric Spec.	
24              Form                  Ch.3; Hoege
26              Visual Cognition      Ch.4; Teuber
Oct 1			"
3               Context               Ch. 5
8       	Eye movements 	       Ch. 6
10              Review               
15 		 MIDTERM	       
17               Arousal               Berlyne; Bornstein 29-35
22               Typicality            Martindale, et al;Boselie
24               Typicality II         Langlois & Roggman; 
 				       Hekkert&Snelders
29               Arousal revisited     Martindale; Konecni
31               Perspective           Ch.7,8
Nov 5            ELECTION DAY
7                Canons,Expertise      Ch.9;Schmidt, et.al. 		 
12               Evolution             Dissanayake;Bornstein 54-73
14               Development           Bornstein 40-54;Gardner
19               Creativity,Personality Zuckerman,etal;Bornstein 35-40
21               Papers
26		  "
Dec 3		  "
5		 Review
10               Potpurri