Contributions of gender and culture to aesthetic response.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test and extend Parsons' (1987) theory of aesthetic development by gathering extensive data on the ways that Mexican American and Navajo females and males respond to selected art images. Studies of twelve participants, six Mexican American and six Navajo, were based on a series of semi-structured in-depth phenomenological interviews (Seidman, 1991). Participants from each culture included six male/female pairs for each of three age groups: upper elementary students, high school students and adults. Each participant responded a series of open-ended questions about a set of eleven art images. Participants described their cultural background and their own personal or educational experiences with art. The data was analyzed in several ways and used to develop a case or portrait for each participant and was compared across groups. Parsons' model with the addition of two additional stances and a rating on a naive/expert continuum was found useful in examining the ways education, experience, gender, and cultural background contributed to aesthetic responses to art images. The resulting cases should be useful in art teaching and teacher education and contribute to the literature of cases in education.