The current PhD project aims at an interdisciplinary approach involving cognitive science, neuroaesthetics (psychology of art) and sustainability. Specifically, the main goal of the research concerns the study of the various mechanisms of perception related to an aesthetic experience (both in the artistic and ordinary sense) and how they may influence our decision-making processes toward the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors.
The achievement of this goal requires multiple steps to develop in different studies.
The first study (paper in elaboration) investigated the relationship between the activation of affordances by everyday objects and the material from which they are made, comparing sustainable stimuli with non-sustainable ones, and analyzing the results in relation also to the environmental sensitivity of the participants (Menardo et al., 2019).
The second study, which will be carried out soon in Vienna during the visiting period at Professor Helmut Leder's EVALab (Empirical Visual Aesthetic), will instead deal with the perception of art and sustainability, and in particular with the search for mechanisms in art that can act as leverage toward the assumption of greener lifestyles. The hypothesis is that the aesthetic experience of beauty can act as an environmental nudge, and the theoretical and scientific premises underlying this hypothesis are described in the review "Beauty as Nudge: Affordance, Aesthetic Experience and Sustainability" (paper under review at the journal Sistemi Intelligenti).
In parallel, two other studies have been planned to be carried out at the Serre of Giardini Margherita (in Bologna) in collaboration with Kilowatt (doctoral partner company). Specifically, the first study focuses on the spatial communication of the Serre and the study of the surrounding environment, while the second will investigate, within the people who frequent the place, the correlation between the perception of beauty (natural and artistic) and the pro-environmental behaviors, recently highlighted by Diessner and Niemiec (2023).
Publications:
Scorolli, C., Naddei Grasso, E., Stacchio, L., Armandi, V., Matteucci, G., & Marfia, G. (2023). Would you rather come to a tango concert in theater or in VR? Aesthetic emotions & social presence in musical experiences, either live, 2D or 3D. Computers in Human Behavior, 149, 107910
