Key Stimuli and Power Objects: Aesthetics and Our Innate Sensibilities

Høgh‐Olesen, Henrik

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46190-4_7

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…I cannot go into detail here, but we humans have innate sensibilities for, and thus a natural way of being attracted to or feeling aversion towards, certain shapes, colours, patterns, materials, sounds, smells, and tastes. We are attracted to and disgusted by specific issues and situations in the surrounding world, and we prefer specific animals and plants in the surrounding fauna and flora, and specific areas and habitats for longer stays (Høgh-Olesen, 2019, 2020. Even though today almost everybody in the modern West lives in population-dense urban spaces, nature means a lot to us.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Existential moods as resonances of being: Anchoring existential psychology in nature—An outline

Høgh‐Olesen

2023

Theory & Psychology

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An overview is provided of the psychological constituents of the emotional register, and special focus is given to the longer-lasting existential moods—our being-attuned to being—that we as humans experience. The classic concepts of existentialism (Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre) are reviewed and challenged. Moods, such as emptiness, meaninglessness, existential anxiety for freedom and nothingness, have not always been dominating aspects of human existence, nor are they today. These moods primarily stem from urbanity and modernity; but worldwide the majority of people do not know what autonomy, freedom, and relativity means. The outer as well as the inner nature of humans, and of human existence, are underexposed in classic and modern existential thinking. The aim here is to remedy this shortcoming by presenting an empirically anchored outline of a natural existential psychology, which, based on modern neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, comparative psychology, and phenomenology, provides further knowledge about our basic existential moods and our species-specific resonances of being-in-the-world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Existential moods as resonances of being: Anchoring existential psychology in nature—An outline

Høgh‐Olesen

2023

Theory & Psychology

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“…Infants are more likely to put shiny objects in their mouth and suck on them, and adult research subjects’ current level of thirst significantly affects their preference for glossy images. More thirst leads to higher preference for glossy materials testifying the association between shiny and wet (Coss, 2003; Høgh-Olesen, 2020; Meert et al, 2014).…”

Section: Key Stimuli and Innate Sensibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The venus figurines of the upper paleolithic as sexual power objects: The first fetishing of the female body in human imaginative culture.

Høgh-Olesen

2025

Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences

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The Venus figurines have a long history of interpretation centering on two main hypotheses related to fertility divinity (the figurines as talismans used in fertility rites to promote childbirth and growth) and to sexual attractivity (the figurines as materialized lust and objects of sexual desire). We cannot test these hypotheses in the lab, but we can outline criteria that can tell a good, coherent, and well-substantiated interpretation from a not so good, incoherent, and less substantiated ditto. With help from ethology, neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology, this article will try to reevaluate, resubstantiate, and rephrase the main hypotheses of fertility and attractiveness in order to better understand what these female figurines may represent. A substantial number of the Venus figurines found so far seem to represent the supernormal essence of the female body’s sexual key stimuli. An object concentrating key stimuli automatically becomes a power object or a fetish, and that may be what the Venus figurines are: Sexual power objects, and hence the first fetishing of the female body in human imaginative culture.

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Key Stimuli and Power Objects: Aesthetics and Our Innate Sensibilities

Cited by 2 publications

References 55 publications

Existential moods as resonances of being: Anchoring existential psychology in nature—An outline

Existential moods as resonances of being: Anchoring existential psychology in nature—An outline

The venus figurines of the upper paleolithic as sexual power objects: The first fetishing of the female body in human imaginative culture.

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