Art promotes exploration of negative content.

ABSTRACT: Experiencing negative content through art has a unique power to transform our perceptions and foster engagement. While this idea has been widely discussed, empirical evidence is scarce, since experimental testing of art experiences poses significant challenges. Here, we aimed to fill this gap by quantifying and comparing individuals' preference for engaging with art and nonart depicting matched negative content via two behavioral measures: the choice to engage vs. avoid and the duration of engagement. Across five studies (total N = 1,063), results revealed a preference for engaging with negative content through art as compared to nonart. Specifically, people more frequently chose to view negative art images, and looked at them for longer, as compared to photographs of similar conten

SUBMITTER: Ozbay Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11804676 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature