Affective and Evaluative Responses to the Arts

Abstract

This study investigated readers' judgments of greatness and preference in six art forms from 1,098 responses to a newspaper survey. High positive correlations were found between the frequency with which subjects nominated artworks and performers as the “greatest” and “favorite,” although there was some indication that the criteria for greatness were more difficult to satisfy. There was general consensus on judgments of greatness and preference, which indicates that we agree on what constitutes good taste, although this consensus was higher for judgments of greatness than preference, and also for a small elite number of the greatest and most preferred works and performers. The results also indicated that there are trends over time in the ability of the arts to produce notable works, and that geographic factors may be related to these.