Thomas Jacobsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 224155 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Jacobsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Jacobsen |
| SIGNATURE | JACOBSEN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Helmut Schmidt University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1523-3996 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 44 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The relation between the aesthetic perception of objects and the focus in visual attention across different stages of ego development
Bad beauty: The impact of affect and biospheric values on beauty judgments of environmental pollution photography
Ego-Development and the Aesthetics of Structures
In stage models of personality development, advancing development is understood as an increased interaction with the surrounding world. In the aesthetics of structures that can be found in the surrounding world, for example, in architecture or landscape design, it is this interaction between humans and the environment that is crucial. In order to investigate the connection between personality development and the aesthetics of abstract structures,…
Beauty lies in the eye of the mindful: Does mindfulness intensify aesthetic experience by freeing working memory resources
Probing instructed but unnecessary switches of attentional strategy
It is widely assumed that attentional strategies can be intentionally shifted. Experimental evidence of such adjustment stems almost exclusively from situations associated with changes concerning perceptual stimulus features, stimulus-related contingencies, or response demands, however. In a series of experiments, we investigated intention- (i.e., instruction-) based shifts of attentional strategy in the absence of additional changes in the task/…
Body alteration: On the mental function of body modification and body decoration
Decorating the body as well as (semi-)permanent bodily modifications are a longstanding human practice, together with spending a great amount of time and effort on such body alterations. The present article reviews the mental functions of body-altering behavior. The primary aim is to identify and elucidate the predominant mental function underpinning these body alterations. Following several guidelines for reviews, we synthesized the literature, …
Who Attends the Arts and why? Examining the Role of Personality Across Two Distinct Samples
Previous research in psychological aesthetics has already highlighted the influence of personality on the experience and appreciation of art. And yet, the question of whether personality can manifest itself in arts attendance behavior remains far from settled. We therefore aimed at examining whether personality-measured with the Mini International Personality Item Pool-is linked to arts attendance motivations as well as to the art forms people ch…
The role of fatigue in adolescents' chronic pain: A study on facets of fatigue in young patients with a chronic pain disorder
Fatigue has been proposed as a potential factor influencing the perception of pain, which could be pertinent for enhancing chronic pain treatment. Exploring the relationship between pain and fatigue during a 3-week inpatient interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy program, we evaluated children and adolescents (11-18 years) who reported significant chronic pain. Assessment tools included the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory and other clinical…
Feeling blue? Arts attendance as a moderator of the effect of neuroticism on subjective well-being: Evidence from two national panel studies
Neuroticism has long been known as a risk factor for reduced happiness and impaired health. And yet, despite the growing evidence linking arts engagement to happiness, the question remains: Do people high in neuroticism benefit from arts engagement? Using data from two nationally representative panel studies from Germany ( N = 874) and Switzerland ( N = 6,336) we examined whether arts attendance moderates the relation between neuroticism and subj…
Assessing the desire for aesthetics: Adaptation and validation of the desire for aesthetics scale in German (DFAS-G)
OBJECTIVES: Individuals vary in their levels of Desire for Aesthetics, ranging from superficial interest to profound immersion. However, there is currently a lack of measurement tools available to assess Desire for Aesthetics across various domains within German-speaking populations. Addressing this gap, the present study aimed to develop the Desire for Aesthetics Scale in German (DFAS-G) and evaluate its psychometric properties to comprehensivel…
Preparation and persistence of deploying attention to locations or stimulus structures: Evidence from intermixed probe trials
Attention can be directed to the global or local level of a visual stimulus (i.e., Navon figure). Previous studies yielded reliable trial-to-trial level switch costs (i.e., worse performance when responding to the other level than on a previous trial), even though level cueing effects indicated anticipatory deployment of attention to the upcoming target level. To investigate the interplay of attentional preparation and persistence, we applied a p…
Bad beauty: Aesthetic judgments are influenced by references to morally contentious content in photographs
Affective responses can influence evaluative judgments, but how are subjective beauty ratings affected by references to morally contentious elements in aesthetic stimuli? In an online experiment (N = 460), we investigated the relationship between two types of descriptive texts (Neutral vs. Negative) and the beauty ratings of 25 photographs that depict sources of environmental pollution. For each photograph, the neutral descriptive text contained …
Beauty is in the brain networks of the beholder: An exploratory functional magnetic resonance imaging study
Listening to music while appreciating its beauty is a common activity in daily life. Only a few studies have explored the association between such aesthetic processes with brain activity and the related patterns of brain connectivity states. Here, we exploratorily applied a recent algorithm for extracting the dynamic changes in time-varying functional connectivity (FC) by measuring functional magnetic resonance imaging responses from 36 participa…
Smooth as glass and hard as stone? On the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of materials
Smooth and Hard or Beautiful and Elegant? Experts’ Conceptual Structure of the Aesthetics of Materials
The present study’s aim was to examine whether interindividual differences in levels of expertise influence the aesthetic processing of materials. In particular, we elucidated experts’ conceptual structure of the aesthetics of different materials using a free list task and compared it to recent non-expert data. To this end, we asked 401 architects, designers, and interior designers to list adjectives that could be used to describe the aesthetics …
An assessment of the acceptance and aesthetics of UAVs and helicopters through an experiment and a survey
Word class and word frequency in the MMN looking glass
“I'm getting too old for this stuff”: The conceptual structure of tattoo aesthetics
While body modifications have increasingly gained acceptance and popularity, how different subpopulations aesthetically appreciate tattoos remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the conceptual structure underlying tattoo aesthetics, focusing on the effects of internalized social norms and expertise. Using a timed free-listing task, three groups (≤49 years, ≥50 years, and experts) comprising 497 participants were asked to write do…
No evidence for the reduction of task competition and attentional adjustment during task-switching practice
What are aesthetic emotions?
This is the first comprehensive theoretical article on aesthetic emotions. Following Kant's definition, we propose that it is the first and foremost characteristic of aesthetic emotions to make a direct contribution to aesthetic evaluation/appreciation. Each aesthetic emotion is tuned to a special type of perceived aesthetic appeal and is predictive of the subjectively felt pleasure or displeasure and the liking or disliking associated with this …
The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception
Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model to explain this much discussed (apparent) paradox. We argue that negative emotions are an important resource for the arts in general, rather than a special license for exceptional art forms only. The underlying rationale is that negative emotions have been shown to be par…
The emotional and aesthetic powers of parallelistic diction
"Mapping the aesthetic space of literature "from below
The present paper aims to elucidate the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of literature.Following Fechner's "aesthetics from below" (1876) and adopting a method introduced by Jacobsen, Buchta, Kohler, and Schroeger (2004), we asked 1544 German-speaking research participants to list adjectives that they use to label aesthetic dimensions of literature in general and of individual literary forms and genres in particular (novels, short stories, …
Towards a Psychological Construct of Being Moved
The emotional state of being moved, though frequently referred to in both classical rhetoric and current language use, is far from established as a well-defined psychological construct. In a series of three studies, we investigated eliciting scenarios, emotional ingredients, appraisal patterns, feeling qualities, and the affective signature of being moved and related emotional states. The great majority of the eliciting scenarios can be assigned …
Domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
This article is a commentary on 'Ten years of a model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments: The aesthetic episode - developments and challenges in empirical aesthetics' (Leder & Nadal, 2014, this issue). It focuses on domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
Bridging the Arts and Sciences: A Framework for the Psychology of Aesthetics
The investigation of aesthetic processing has constituted a longstanding tradition in experimental psychology, of which experimental aesthetics is the second-oldest branch. The status of this psychology of aesthetics, the science of aesthetic processing, is briefly reviewed here. Building on this heritage and drawing on a host of related scientific disciplines, a framework for a strongly interdisciplinary psychology of aesthetics is proposed. It …
Processing Grammatical Gender During Language Comprehension
"Mapping the aesthetic space of literature "from below
The present paper aims to elucidate the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of literature.Following Fechner's "aesthetics from below" (1876) and adopting a method introduced by Jacobsen, Buchta, Kohler, and Schroeger (2004), we asked 1544 German-speaking research participants to list adjectives that they use to label aesthetic dimensions of literature in general and of individual literary forms and genres in particular (novels, short stories, …
The emotional and aesthetic powers of parallelistic diction
Effects of Grammatical Gender on Picture and Word Naming: Evidence from German
Counterfactual processing: Test of an hierarchical correspondence model
Bouts, Spears and van der Pligt (1992) recently proposed an hierarchical correspondence model of counterfactual processing. They argue that counterfactual processing is governed by the correspondence between events and outcomes along three dimensions: the causal relationship of events and outcomes, their evaluative tone and their normality. Causal relationship, valence and normality of events and outcomes were varied in a factorial design within …
Domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
This article is a commentary on 'Ten years of a model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments: The aesthetic episode - developments and challenges in empirical aesthetics' (Leder & Nadal, 2014, this issue). It focuses on domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
Individual and group modelling of aesthetic judgment strategies
Individual differences in aesthetic judgments were investigated by comparing quantitative group and individual performance models of the judgment processes. Aesthetic judgments of beauty over novel, formal, graphic patterns were collected from 34 non-artist college students using a two-step ranking-rating procedure. Their judgment processes were individually modelled using Judgment Analysis. The participants showed noted individual differences. C…
Counterfactual processing: Test of an hierarchical correspondence model
Bouts, Spears and van der Pligt (1992) recently proposed an hierarchical correspondence model of counterfactual processing. They argue that counterfactual processing is governed by the correspondence between events and outcomes along three dimensions: the causal relationship of events and outcomes, their evaluative tone and their normality. Causal relationship, valence and normality of events and outcomes were varied in a factorial design within …
Introduction to Part II of the Special Issue, “Processing of Grammatical Gender”
Effects of Grammatical Gender on Picture and Word Naming: Evidence from German
Processing Grammatical Gender During Language Comprehension
Timed picture naming in seven languages
The Primacy of Beauty in Judging the Aesthetics of Objects
The Primacy of Beauty in Judging the Aesthetics of Objects
The conceptual structure of the aesthetics of objects was investigated. To this end, associative namings for the word "aesthetics" were collected from 311 nonartist German college students in a timed verbal association task. 590 different adjectives were produced, depicting diversification of the concept. The adjective "beautiful" was given by more than 90% of the participants. The adjective "ugly" was the second most frequent naming, used by alm…
Kandinsky's Color-Form Correspondence And The Bauhaus Colors: An Empirical View
April 01 2004 Kandinsky's Color-Form Correspondence And The Bauhaus Colors: An Empirical View Thomas Jacobsen Thomas Jacobsen Institut für Allgemeine Psychologie, Universität Leipzig, Seeburgstraße 14-20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.thomasjacobsen.de Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Thomas Jacobsen Institut für Allgemeine Psychologie, Universität …
Individual and group modelling of aesthetic judgment strategies
Individual differences in aesthetic judgments were investigated by comparing quantitative group and individual performance models of the judgment processes. Aesthetic judgments of beauty over novel, formal, graphic patterns were collected from 34 non-artist college students using a two-step ranking-rating procedure. Their judgment processes were individually modelled using Judgment Analysis. The participants showed noted individual differences. C…
Bridging the Arts and Sciences: A Framework for the Psychology of Aesthetics
The investigation of aesthetic processing has constituted a longstanding tradition in experimental psychology, of which experimental aesthetics is the second-oldest branch. The status of this psychology of aesthetics, the science of aesthetic processing, is briefly reviewed here. Building on this heritage and drawing on a host of related scientific disciplines, a framework for a strongly interdisciplinary psychology of aesthetics is proposed. It …
Evaluation of School Architecture Postoccupancy
A questionnaire for the postoccupancy evaluation of school architecture was developed. It contains distinct modules covering different parts of a school building. A module of the questionnaire comprises a semantic differential section and items covering six content domains which were selected based on a literature review, namely, aesthetics, equipment, room climate, spatial cognition, privacy and publicity, and personalization of and identificati…
Aesthetic responses to music: A questionnaire study
We explored the content and structure of the cognitive, knowledge-based concept underlying aesthetic responses to music. To this aim, we asked 290 Finnish students to verbally associate the aesthetic value of music and to write down a list of appropriate adjectives within a given time limit. No music was presented during the task. In addition, information about participants’ musical background was collected. A variety of analysis techniques was u…
The origins of the aesthetic enjoyment of music — A review of the literature
Listeners attribute a positive or negative value to music. This aesthetic experience is known to be observable over the individuals’ entire life span, from early childhood to old age, and in every culture. It is then often concluded that such an aesthetic experience constitutes part of the human nature, having an important biological foundation. This assumption leads to the question of how aesthetic experience of music originated in the biologica…
Domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
This article is a commentary on 'Ten years of a model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments: The aesthetic episode - developments and challenges in empirical aesthetics' (Leder & Nadal, 2014, this issue). It focuses on domain specificity and mental chronometry in empirical aesthetics
Towards a Psychological Construct of Being Moved
The emotional state of being moved, though frequently referred to in both classical rhetoric and current language use, is far from established as a well-defined psychological construct. In a series of three studies, we investigated eliciting scenarios, emotional ingredients, appraisal patterns, feeling qualities, and the affective signature of being moved and related emotional states. The great majority of the eliciting scenarios can be assigned …
"Mapping the aesthetic space of literature "from below
The present paper aims to elucidate the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of literature.Following Fechner's "aesthetics from below" (1876) and adopting a method introduced by Jacobsen, Buchta, Kohler, and Schroeger (2004), we asked 1544 German-speaking research participants to list adjectives that they use to label aesthetic dimensions of literature in general and of individual literary forms and genres in particular (novels, short stories, …
The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception
Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model to explain this much discussed (apparent) paradox. We argue that negative emotions are an important resource for the arts in general, rather than a special license for exceptional art forms only. The underlying rationale is that negative emotions have been shown to be par…
The emotional and aesthetic powers of parallelistic diction
What are aesthetic emotions?
This is the first comprehensive theoretical article on aesthetic emotions. Following Kant's definition, we propose that it is the first and foremost characteristic of aesthetic emotions to make a direct contribution to aesthetic evaluation/appreciation. Each aesthetic emotion is tuned to a special type of perceived aesthetic appeal and is predictive of the subjectively felt pleasure or displeasure and the liking or disliking associated with this …
No evidence for the reduction of task competition and attentional adjustment during task-switching practice
Word class and word frequency in the MMN looking glass
“I'm getting too old for this stuff”: The conceptual structure of tattoo aesthetics
While body modifications have increasingly gained acceptance and popularity, how different subpopulations aesthetically appreciate tattoos remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the conceptual structure underlying tattoo aesthetics, focusing on the effects of internalized social norms and expertise. Using a timed free-listing task, three groups (≤49 years, ≥50 years, and experts) comprising 497 participants were asked to write do…
Smooth and Hard or Beautiful and Elegant? Experts’ Conceptual Structure of the Aesthetics of Materials
The present study’s aim was to examine whether interindividual differences in levels of expertise influence the aesthetic processing of materials. In particular, we elucidated experts’ conceptual structure of the aesthetics of different materials using a free list task and compared it to recent non-expert data. To this end, we asked 401 architects, designers, and interior designers to list adjectives that could be used to describe the aesthetics …
An assessment of the acceptance and aesthetics of UAVs and helicopters through an experiment and a survey
Smooth as glass and hard as stone? On the conceptual structure of the aesthetics of materials
Psychology (30 works) · Cognitive psychology (20 works) · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis (19 works) · Art (18 works) · Aesthetics (17 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Cognition (13 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Beauty (8 works)