Hey folks, I’m conducting an art-oriented research study for my seniour honours thesis in psychology, and I could really use some extra participants. If you’re bored this weekend and have an interest in psychology and/or fine art you might like to give it a go. It involves rating a series of portraits on various personality and emotional traits which you perceive them to have. It’s anonymous and entirely online. The questionnaire you’ll need to complete it can be obtained from the website.
I need as many subjects as possible and I’d really appreciate your help! Thanks!
I did the study, and although it takes some time and a bit of effort, it is pretty interesting nonetheless. The hypothesis, which you learn after giving your responses, is worth knowing, especially for the artistically-inclined among us.
Thanks for the thumbs up; I’m glad you both liked it. I really appreciate your participating. I’m hoping to attract more artists and art students as my university doesn’t have a fine arts program for “easy pickings.” That’s why I’ve gone online for this. However, I also need non-artists as well, so anyone who’s interested please have a look at my site. This topic is rather new and hasn’t been examined too much, so the more data I have – from artists and non-artists alike – the more informative my findings will be. By the way, if anyone would like to know my conclusions, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to send you a summary when I’ve finished (sometime in March).
I have some old pictures I made while my depression… there is one “how I feel inside” picture showing a face - and a few comic style "depression beast"pictures…
However, when I was originally exploring the topic one of my ideas for the methodology was having subjects do paintings (esp. self-portraits). I proposed it to my advisor who physically cringed at the difficulty of measuring such responses. I still think it would be an interesting thing to do, although too much to ask of non-artist participants. If your paintings are portraits, it would be interesting to know how they fit in with the hypothesis (see the debrief on the website).
If you don’t mind, I might send the link to the survey to some of my friends. I think the portraits you chose are so beautiful, it was a treat to do the survey.
And it might not be a bad idea to bump this tomorrow when people are back at work, so more of them can see it if they only post from work.
but have no guarantees as to how many will actually participate. I will say again that I thought it was enjoyable and I would also like to know the results of the study (my dusty degree is in psychology).
I’m curious as to why you’re asking for people who are “interested” in psychology or art. I remember last year when I was doing sociolinguistics field surveys, we specifically rejected other linguistics geex.
Since this is a little known topic, there isn’t really any risk of contaminating my data with the responses of people who are familiar with hypothesis about how people make decisions concerning the emotions/personality traits conveyed in portraits. Therefore, in the hopes of attracting people who might participate in my study, I’m appealing to those who have an interest in psychology as well as art. I can’t get into the specific reasons of needing artists (and art students) to participate without giving things away, apart of course from the obvious involvement of art (specifically, portraiture). Let’s just say I’m interested in differences between the samples (i.e. artists and non-artists).
Btw, it’s common practice for psychology experiments to be done on psychology students (particularly first years), and we were actively encouraged to do so. Rather than being seen as a risk, it’s looked upon as a useful way of introducing first year psych students to research methods and getting them interested in specific areas of psychology. (I should note that the emphasis of undergrad psychology in the UK is placed heavily upon research, whereas in the US – in my experience, anyway – the focus is much more on counseling and clinical psychology.)
I am by no means limited to those who have a knowledge of psychology and/or art, so anyone who wants to participate please do!!
Sure! Tell you what, if this post is still in the archives when my thesis is finished (~ 2 months from now) then I’ll post it here; otherwise I’ll e-mail you direct. And thanks for spreading the word!
A participant just got in touch and told me she was having problems sending her questionnaire to my university address, so I’ve added my home e-mail address to the site. If any of you have experienced similar problems, please refer to the site to get the other e-mail address. Sorry for the inconvenience; my university address seems to have been finicky lately!
Thanks to those who have recently participated in the study!
I still need more participants so if you’re interested, check it out!
That’s why I’ve gone online for this. However, I also need non-artists as well, so anyone who’s interested please have a look at my site. This topic is rather new and hasn’t been examined too much, so the more data I have – from artists and non-artists alike – the more informative my findings will be. By the way, if anyone would like to know my conclusions, drop me a line and I’ll be happy to send you a summary when I’ve finished (sometime in March).