Aesthetic experiences are the attitudes, perceptions, or acts of attention involved with viewing art. When the viewer is fully engaged, aesthetic experiences are comparable with flow experiences, which are optimal experiences described by people as “being in the zone” or “getting lost” in the moment. This study uses the framework of aesthetic experiences by Csikszentmihalyi and Robinson (1990), which conceptualizes aesthetic experiences as having 4 art-related dimensions and a fifth flow dimension. Using this conceptualization, we created the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire (AEQ) and tested its validity in a general population of Amazon Mechanical Turk users. Results demonstrated that the AEQ consists of 4 artistically related dimensions (i.e., perceptual, emotional, cultural, understanding) and 2 flow dimensions (i.e., proximal conditions, experience). The AEQ demonstrated convergent validity with related constructs (i.e., openness to experience, inspiration, curiosity and exploration), and individuals with greater artistic experience had more intense ratings of aesthetic experiences. Overall, this study lends support to Csikszentmihalyi and Robinson’s framework of aesthetic experiences and provides a useful measure of aesthetic experiences for future studies.
One of the most widely used communication tools in evaluation is the logic model. Despite its extensive use, there has been little research into the visualization aspect of the logic model. To assess the impact that design modifications would have on its effectiveness, we applied established visualization principles to revise a program model. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions to examine the effectiveness (i.e., visual efficiency, comprised of accuracy, response time, and mental effort; credibility; aesthetics) of variations to a logic model. The results demonstrated that the revisions to the model increased accuracy, perceived message credibility, and were considered more aesthetically pleasing; furthermore, revisions decreased mental effort and reduced the amount of time taken to review the model. Together, the findings from the study support the claim that visual efficiency can be improved by modifying a logic model’s formatting and design.
In response to interest in the role of noncognitive factors in academic performance, several theoretical models have been developed; however, there have been few empirical attempts to validate those models, particularly with minority populations. This study used measures of academic mindsets, social skills, academic perseverance, learning strategies, and academic performance to test the structural pathways of a well-known hypothesized model of noncognitive factors and academic performance proposed by researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. The population of study consisted of high school students from a mainly Hispanic, low-income school district. Results support the hypothesized model; however, academic perseverance was not significantly related to academic performance in the context of other noncognitive factors. Additionally, findings differed across groups, including age (e.g., freshman vs. senior), socioeconomic status (e.g., parent education, free/reduced priced lunch), and race/ethnicity.
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