Bodily sensations, emotions, and personality traits in the aesthetic experience of everyday photographs

Abstract

Abstract Aesthetic evaluation is shaped by a complex interplay of bodily sensations, emotions, and personality traits. However, how these factors are correlated with aesthetic evaluation is not yet fully understood, and most prior work has centered on art-appreciation contexts. Here, we focus on everyday photographs to examine these relationships. In this study, 511 participants observed everyday photographs and reported bodily sensations; selected emotion categories from predefined labels; and rated valence, arousal, and aesthetic evaluation. Participants also completed five personality questionnaires assessing sensitivity to beauty, empathy, openness, alexithymia, and interoceptive awareness. The central finding was a robust association between higher aesthetic evaluation and chest-centered bodily sensations. Also, aesthetic evaluation was positively correlated with high-valence emotion categories and with higher levels of empathy and sensitivity to beauty. The contribution of this study lies in its multifaceted investigation of aesthetic experience grounded in everyday photographs. While broadly consistent with hypotheses derived from conventional art appreciation contexts, the results reveal partially distinct patterns of bodily sensations and emotional responses. Extending this line of inquiry to other aesthetic domains, such as music and morality, could help clarify how beauty arises.