Bodily sensations, emotions, and personality traits in the aesthetic experience of everyday photographs
Shoya Washizu, Yoshia Abe, Tatsuya Daikoku, Yasuo Kuniyoshi · 2025
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Description
Looking at an everyday photo can stir feelings in the body, not just the mind, and personality shapes that stir. Shoya Washizu and co-authors mapped the effect in this 2025 study. Five hundred eleven people viewed ordinary photographs. Each person reported where they felt sensations in the body and picked emotion labels.
Viewers also rated each photo's pleasantness, intensity, and beauty. Questionnaires measured five traits, including empathy and sensitivity to beauty. Photos judged more beautiful came with sensations centered in the chest. Pleasant emotion labels rose with beauty ratings too. Empathy and beauty sensitivity tracked higher ratings as well. The work links gut feelings — literally felt ones — to why plain scenes move us.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shoya Washizu, Yoshia Abe, Tatsuya Daikoku, Yasuo Kuniyoshi |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 49 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |