Experiencing beauty in everyday life

Abstract

Beauty surrounds us in many ways every day. In three experience sampling (ESM) studies we investigated frequency, category of eliciting stimuli (natural vs human-made) and, the potential moderating role of several individual difference measures on such everyday experiences of beauty in an ecologically valid manner. Further, we explored the impact of such experiences on valence & arousal. Study 1 re-analysed data from a previous study, in line with the current aims. In Studies 2 and 3, we asked participants to report daily experiences of beauty using a mixed random and event-contingent sampling schedule. Mobile notifications (random sampling) prompted participants to take a photo and rate the beauty of their surroundings. Further, current valence and arousal were assessed. Notification frequency and total days of participation differed between these two studies. Participants were able to report additional experiences outside of the notification windows (event-contingent sampling). Our results indicate that we frequently encounter beauty in everyday life and that we find it in nature, in particular. Our results further suggest a mood-boosting effect of encounters with beauty. Lastly, our results indicate influences of individual differences however, these were inconclusive and require further attention.

Aesthetic Elements of Urban Environments and their relation to Wellbeing: A scoping review.

“…For instance, we identified Flickr (Havinga et al, 2021;Langemeyer et al, 2018;Seresinhe et al, 2018), Instagram (Wan et al, 2021;Zasina, 2018) and TripAdvisor ratings (Kourtit et al, 2021c). This kind of methodology seems to be becoming more apparent in studying the everyday environment (e.g., Alexander, 2013;Knoll et al, 2024;Leder et al, 2022;Petersen & Martin, 2021;Vissers & Wagemans, 2022). This is also reflected in the use of Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA; see Scott et al, 2018 from the reviewed articles).…”

“…The aesthetically relevant properties of art (e.g., beauty) evoke an emotional response, resulting in an aesthetic experience. Other objects aside from art can also be aesthetically relevant (see Leder et al, 2004;2011;Pelowski et al, 2017;Skov & Nadal, 2020), and the notion of aesthetics can be applied to objects from our everyday urban environments, i.e., those that are not traditionally categorised as art (Knoll et al, 2024;Specker, et al, 2024). In this regard, there appears to be a growing interest in empirical aesthetics towards studying the urban environment (Brielmann et al, 2022;Chana et al, 2023;Gartus & Leder, 2014;Gartus et al, 2015;Leder et al, 2010;Leder et al, 2016;Mikuni et al, 2024;Mitschke et al, 2017;Tinio & Leder, 2009).…”