Welcome!

This blog is dedicated to sharing work from our project about exploring people's experiences with art. The project was funded by the Art Seeking Understanding funding initiative supported by the Templeton Religion Trust. The project consists of three separate studies.

1. The first study involved interviews with people who are highly involved in art. In the Art Creation Interview, participants described their experience with creating an emotionally salient artwork. In the Art Interaction Interview, participants described their experience interacting with an emotionally salient artwork created by someone else. Each interview had several prompts and was designed to last for about 20 to 30 minutes. The prompts asked participants to describe the experience in detail and about any understandings they gained about themselves, others, and the world. The prompt also asked specifically about spiritual understandings related to authenticity and ultimate meaning, as well as about any perceived supernatural experiences. 
2. The second study also involved Art Creation and Art Interaction Interviews. An adult sample of over 800 art enthusiasts recruited by CloudResearch completed the study. Participants completed an online survey that included questions about art expertise and experience, as well as personal beliefs and personality. The survey also included Art Story prompts, similar to the interviews in Study 1: the prompts asked for a Creation Story and an Interaction Story. Participants wrote relatively short stories, consisting of about 1-2 paragraphs.
3. In the third study, Cloud Research recruited nearly 2,000 participants (art enthusiasts as well as people who did not report high levels of interest in art). This study involved a survey that was similar to those used in Studies 1 and 2. However, we did not ask about an Art Story. Rather, we asked participants to describe their life story about their relationship to religion and spirituality. Importantly, participants did not need to be religious or spiritual themselves. Similar to the Art Story interviews, we asked about  secular and spiritual understandings that participants gained in their stories.

​We will post updates about our findings to this blog intermittently, so please come back to find out about the latest developments!