Theories of Personality and Theories of Art: A Budding Consilience

Echoing the effort put forth during the 1960s by art historians Gombrich and Panofsky demonstrating that much could be learned about theories of art from theories of human behavior, the author attempted to re-cross the boundary between these disciplines to explore the reverse of this notion. Included in this effort are a review of four major conceptualizations of art, an attempt to bridge art and personality theory by proposing that what applies to paintings applies to people and vice–versa, the presentation of evidence in support of “theory of response” being common to both the perception of art and person perception, and a recasting of the nature of “self” as an emotion. Following theoretical and methodological discussion of a proposed multiplex conceptualization of personality deriving from an adaptation of a Brunswikian lens model, an effort is made to consider the manner in which the empiricism characteristic of personality research might be applied in the historically nonempirical study of painting and sculpture.