The function of ornaments: A cultural psychological exploration

Abstract

Ornaments are ubiquitous markers of everyday life and yet frequently ignored, belittled and even contested. Moreover, current definitions locate them in the realm of the aesthetic and gratuitous. This article aims to bring ornaments to the attention of cultural psychologists by outlining a typology of their manifold functions that integrates aesthetic and utilitarian, individual and social roles. Ornaments help us to identify and locate, tell or communicate, remind and organise our action, they guide our attention, express and individualise, can generate an experience, beautify as well as represent. These functions are illustrated with examples from a study of Easter egg decoration practices in northern Romania. In the end, the 'meta-function' of emergence is discussed and consideration is given to the spatial and temporal contexts of ornaments. Future opportunities for theorising ornamentation as an embodied practice characterised by repetition and rhythm are suggested.

The pervasive power of political positioning: A review of Culture & Political Psychology

“…In this way, cultural creations allow us to move from testing theories in laboratory or interview settings to more creativity, innovative domains that speak to the culture at a given moment. Other explorations into cultural creations, such as diaries (Zittoun & Gillespie, 2014) easter eggs (Glaveanu, 2014) and literature (Moghaddam, 2004) provide us to look into the positioning of a given culture as framed by the creator. Beyond that, the reaction of the culture upon such a creation provides even more complexities to analyze-the development of a classic such as ''The Wizard of Oz''-a movie that, when released, resulted in a $1.1 million dollar loss for the producers (Eyman, 2005), yet is known throughout the world today.…”

Deciphering meanings embedded in the cultural ornaments of Guji Oromo women of Southern Ethiopia

“…Ornamentation is among the oldest and common cultural practices of human society which could be cited as a manifestation of human creativity ( Glaveanu, 2013 ). The term ornament is a broader and elusive concept.…”

“…They claim that cultural body ornaments can be seen “as items reflecting important cognitive and neural capacities” of their creators/users ( Abadía and Nowell, 2015 , p. 967). According to Glaveanu (2013) , ornament encompasses broader domains such as objects, gestures, images, and even melodies. However, in the current study, only the object ornaments are considered.…”

“…In general, Glaveanu (2013 , p.96) categorizes the function of ornament across four major dimensions: aesthetic/utilitarian and individual/social roles many of which could be conveyed at a time by a single ornament. However, with a closer look at these dimensions, one could see overlaps between aesthetic values and individual roles on the one hand and utilitarian and social roles on the other.…”

“…Given their ubiquitous nature and tremendous utilitarian values, scholars such as Glaveanu (2013) and Prown (1982) still believe that body ornaments are not well studied. Indeed, the knowledge gap in this area seems to be high in the context of our country.…”