Katherine N Cotter

University of Pennsylvania | UP · Positive Psychology Center

Aesthetics, creativity, and arts researchers employ a variety of methods to answer their research questions. Ecological methods—assessing people in their everyday environments—are becoming more common, but researchers curious to try conducting a daily life study often find these methods complex and intimidating. Here we provide a brief overview of...

Hearing music in your head is a ubiquitous experience, but the role mental control plays in these experiences has not been deeply addressed. In this conceptual analysis, a dual-component model of mental control in musical imagery experiences is developed and discussed. The first component, initiation, refers to whether the musical imagery experienc...

People visit museums with differing motivations. We use Falk’s visitor identity model to examine visitors’ motivation to visit an art museum. We assess (1) the prevalence of different motivation types; (2) how visit motivations and outcomes relate to visit satisfaction and length; and (3) the relation between visit motivations and fulfillment of ex...

Mental control of musical imagery consists of two components: initiation—did you start it on purpose?—and management—did you alter, sustain, or end the experience after it began? The present research examined these two components of mental control using both behavioral lab-based musical imagery tasks and self-reports of mental control in daily life...

Visiting art museums is a common activity that a wide variety of people choose to engage in for many reasons. Increasingly, communities, nations, and societies are turning to art museums as institutions to enhance flourishing (i.e., reducing ill-being factors, such as depression, and increasing well-being factors, such as feelings of belonging). In...

Art-viewing is a defining component of society and culture, in part because the experience involves a wide-range and nuanced configuration of emotional and cognitive responses. Precisely because of this complexity, however, questions of the actual nature, scope, and variety of art experience remain largely unanswered: what kinds of patterns do we e...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread decreases in well-being, and people turned to various coping resources to mitigate declines in well-being.Method: In a large (N = 873) representative US adult sample collected in the fall of 2020, we examined the degree to which people coped using the arts and humanities and the perceived impact o...

The use of art exhibitions to mediate people’s attitudes toward societal challenges—climate change, refugees; general prosocialness—is an emerging interest for institutions, artists, policy, and, recently, for empirical study. However, there is still much need for data regarding whether, and in which ways, we might detect attitude change. Even more...

Find the published manuscript here --> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385852222_What_Can_Happen_When_We_Look_at_Art_An_Exploratory_Network_Model_and_Latent_Profile_Analysis_of_Affective_Cognitive_Aspects_Underlying_Shared_Supraordinate_Responses_to_Museum_Visual_Art

A wealth of research suggests that engaging with visual art and visiting art museums is beneficial to flourishing; however, less is known about the potential benefits of digital forms of engagement. An emerging literature provides preliminary evidence of the benefits of digital art engagement, but additional research on mechanisms and potential mod...

Welcoming Museum Visitors with Unapparent Disabilities exploreshow international cultural organizations (i.e. museums, aquariums, art centers) serve individuals with mental health and neurodiverse challenges. Opening chapters present the status of mental health in society and the need for inclusive design. Organized by unapparent disability, the b...

In this study, we aimed to impact social connectedness and perspective taking using visual art-based psychoeducational materials and skill-building exercises. Participants (N = 381) were assigned to one of three conditions—perspective taking, social connection, or art education control—and watched psychoeducational videos. People then completed a s...

The study of creativity in daily life explores creativity as it happens in people’s unique environments. A consistent finding in this small literature is that engaging in creative activities predicts greater positive emotions, particularly for activated, energetic positive states. To understand why creative activity in everyday life might foster we...

Our emotions can be influenced by many factors, including our engagement with visual art. Further, as our emotional experiences may help us develop psychological resources, they have important implications for our overall well-being and ill-being. Research into the emotions experienced when viewing art, however, has focused on individual emotions s...

Generating creative ideas takes time: the first idea to come to mind is usually obvious, and people need time to shift strategies, enact executive processes, and evaluate and revise an idea. The present research explored the role of time in creative humor production tasks, which give people a prompt and ask them to create a funny response. A sample...

People dedicate substantial time, effort, and resources to engaging in the arts and humanities (A&H). Such activities are believed to greatly enrich people’s lives. However, there is only a patchwork of research on if, when, how, and for whom this holds true. In a large, exploratory survey of 873 U.S. residents (nationally representative with respe...

Generating creative ideas takes time: the first idea to come to mind is usually obvious, and people need time to shift strategies, enact executive processes, and evaluate and revise an idea. The present research explored the role of time in creative humor production tasks, which give people a prompt and ask them to create a funny response. A sample...

How are creative ideas transformed into creative behavior, products, and achievements? We posit that this transformation is facilitated by self-regulation of creativity. The present study develops a self-report scale and provides initial evidence of validity in assessing two major aspects of self regulation of creativity: expectations about the cre...

Validation is an ongoing process for any scale, and thus also for the Vienna Art Interest Art Knowledge Scale (VAIAK). In this paper, we add to this process by assessing the validity of the VAIAK by using an item-response theory (IRT) approach combined with a qualitative approach to further understand the underlying process as to how participants a...

Throughout history, visual art has helped people feel connected to each other, experience a deep sense of belonging to their communities, and enhance their own well-being. In recent years, many museums have increased their digital presence to engage with the public in new ways, including curating unique virtual experiences. The present research exa...

The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotions provides a state-of-the-art review of research on the role of emotions in creativity. This volume presents the insights and perspectives of sixty creativity scholars from thirteen countries who span multiple disciplines, including developmental, social, and personality psychology; industrial and org...

Our emotional experiences can be influenced by many factors, including our engagement with visual art. Further, as our emotional experiences may help us develop psychological resources, they have important implications for our overall flourishing. Research into the emotions we experience when engaging with visual art, however, has focused on indivi...

People’s knowledge about the arts shapes how they experience and engage with art. Since its introduction, the 10-item Aesthetic Fluency Scale has been widely used to measure self-reported art knowledge. Drawing from findings and researchers’ experience since then, the present work develops and evaluates a Revised Aesthetic Fluency Scale using item...

The use of art installations to mediate people’s responses toward societal challenges— climate change, refugees, general prosocialness—is emerging as a main interest for arts institutions, artists, policy, and, recently, empirical study. However, there is still much need for data regarding whether and in what ways we might find detectable change. E...

Visiting art museums has been associated with a range of flourishing outcomes. However, there have been recent shifts towards increasing digital engagement with art, leading to a radical change in how people experience visual art. Given the now expansive virtual art viewing options, it is important to understand whether digital engagement can also...

Visiting art museums has been associated with a range of flourishing outcomes. But there have been recent shifts towards increasing digital engagement with art, leading to a radical change in how people experience visual art. Given the now expansive virtual art viewing options, it is important to understand whether digital engagement can also lead...

The world over, people dedicate substantial time, effort, and resources to engaging in the arts and humanities (A&H). Such activities are believed to greatly enrich people’s lives. However, there is only a patchwork of research on if, when, how, and for whom this holds true. In a large, exploratory survey of 903 U.S. residents (nationally represent...

People’s knowledge about the arts shapes how they experience and engage with art. Since its introduction, the 10-item Aesthetic Fluency Scale has been widely used to measure self-reported art knowledge. Drawing from findings and researchers’ experience since then, the present work develops and evaluates a Revised Aesthetic Fluency Scale using item...

People visit art museums for many reasons—to see something beautiful or famous, to learn more about art, or to experience a sense of awe. Recently, there has been increased interest in how art museum engagement can promote flourishing. Little is known, however, about how the professionals shaping these art museum experiences (e.g., curators, educat...

Throughout history, visual art has helped people feel connected to each other, experience a deep sense of belonging to their communities, and enhance their own well-being. In recent years, many museums have increased their digital presence to engage with the public in new ways, including curating unique virtual experiences. The present research exa...

The rapid evolution of technology and automation today underscores the importance of understanding and facilitating human creativity. Although the psychological science of creativity is a relatively young field, significant progress has been made in recent years, and researchers are increasingly translating their work from the lab to real-world set...

People visit art museums for many reasons—to see something beautiful or famous, to learn more about art, or to experience a sense of awe. Recently, there has been increased interest in how art museum engagement can promote flourishing. Little is known, however, how the professionals shaping these art museum experiences (e.g., curators, educators, f...

Studies of everyday creativity suggest that some people are like creative omnivores, dabbling in a broad range of creative pursuits, but others are like picky eaters, focusing on a single creative passion. A week-long experience sampling study examined the breadth vs depth of 125 university students’ everyday creative activities. Several times a da...

In this chapter we highlight best practices for enhancing creativity in the classroom. Using the Four C model as a starting point, we emphasize several specific points. Teachers should recognize both the benefits and costs of creativity. They can then help students gain a broader understanding of creativity. Teachers can give appropriate feedback t...

Myths about creativity keep contributing to its mysterious aura despite our increasing scientific understanding of this complex phenomenon. This study examined the prevalence of known creativity myths across six countries from diverse cultural backgrounds and explored why some people believe in them more than others. Results revealed persistent, wi...

Visiting art museums is a common activity that a wide variety of people choose to engage in for many reasons. Increasingly, communities, nations, and societies are turning to art museums as institutions to contribute to flourishing (i.e., reducing ill-being factors, such as depression, and increasing well-being factors, such as feelings of belongin...

The aesthetic experience of a group of artworks—such as an afternoon spent wandering in a museum—is not simply the sum of experiences of the individual works. In the present research, we explored visit-level aesthetic experiences in a field study of 298 visitors to a museum of modern and contemporary art. In particular, we focused on emotional dive...

The Aesthetic Fluency Scale is a commonly used measure of people’s art knowledge. This scale was initially developed for museum visitors, but its usage has expanded to other populations, including non-arts students. The present research used an Item Response Theory approach to better understand the scale’s functioning in two samples—artistically en...

The psychology of art and aesthetics has a long-standing interest in how low-level features, such as symmetry, curvature, and color, affect people’s aesthetic experience. Recent research in this tradition suggests that people find glossy, shiny objects and materials more attractive than flat, matte ones. The present experiment sought to replicate a...

The aesthetic experience of a collection of works—such as a sculpture garden, a neighborhood filled with street art, or an afternoon spent wandering in a museum—is not simply the sum of experiences of the individual works. In the present research, we explored visit-level aesthetic experiences in a field study of 298 visitors to a museum of modern a...

In seven studies (n = 1,133), adults tried to create funny ideas and then rated the funniness of their responses, which were also independently rated by judges. In contrast to the common “funnier than average” effect found for global self-ratings, people were relatively modest and self-critical about their specific ideas. Extraversion (r = .12 [.07...

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has well-known links with humor appreciation, such as enjoying jokes that target deviant groups, but less is known about RWA and creative humor production—coming up with funny ideas oneself. A sample of 186 young adults completed a measure of RWA, the HEXACO-100, and 3 humor production tasks that involved writing f...

Mental control of musical imagery consists of two components: initiation—did you start it on purpose?—and management—did you alter, sustain, or end the experience after it began?. The present research examined these two components of mental control using both behavioral lab-based musical imagery tasks and self-reports of mental control in daily lif...

People visit museums with differing motivations. We use Falk’s visitor identity model to examine visitors’ motivation to visit an art museum. We assess (1) the prevalence of different motivation types; (2) how visit motivations and outcomes relate to visit satisfaction and length; and (3) the relation between visit motivations and fulfillment of ex...

In seven studies (n = 1,133), adults tried to create funny ideas and then rated the funniness of their responses, which were also independently rated by judges. People were relatively modest and self-critical about their ideas. Extraversion (r = .12 [.07, .18], k =7) and openness to experience (r = .09 [.03, .15], k = 7) predicted rating one’s resp...

Humans have engaged in artistic and aesthetic activities since the appearance of our species. Our ancestors have decorated their bodies, tools, and utensils for over 100,000 years. The expression of meaning using color, line, sound, rhythm, or movement, among other means, constitutes a fundamental aspect of our species’ biological and cultural heri...

The Aesthetic Fluency Scale is a commonly used measure of people’s art knowledge. This scale was initially developed for museum visitors, but its usage has expanded to other populations, including non-arts students. The present research used an Item Response Theory approach to better understand the scale’s functioning in two samples—artistically en...

The psychology of art and aesthetics has a long-standing interest in how low-level features, such as symmetry, curvature, and color, affect people’s aesthetic experience. Recent research in this tradition suggests that people find glossy, shiny objects and materials more attractive than flat, matte ones. The present experiment sought to replicate a...

Mental control of musical imagery is a complex but understudied process that consists of two components: initiation—whether the musical imagery experience began voluntarily or involuntarily—and management—whether instances of control occur after the experience has begun (e.g., changing the song). The present research examined these two components u...

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) has well-known links with humor appreciation, such as enjoying jokes that target deviant groups, but less is known about RWA and creative humor production—coming up with funny ideas oneself. A sample of 186 young adults completed a measure of RWA, the HEXACO-100, and 3 humor production tasks that involved writing f...

Researchers often use divergent thinking tasks to assess creative potential and find a positive inter-individual relation between fluency and originality. But are there different within-person patterns of originality and fluency? Study 1: undergraduates completed an alternate uses task and the NEO-FFI. Three profiles emerged: (1) low originality an...

Mental control of musical imagery is a complex, but understudied, process that consists of two components: initiation-whether the musical imagery experience began voluntarily or involuntarily-and management-whether instances of control occur after the experience has begun (e.g., changing the song, stopping the experience). The present research exam...

Sublime encounters provide a compelling example of the peaks of our shared emotional and cognitive experiences. For centuries, these have been a target for philosophy and, more recently, for psychology, with its renewed focus on profound or aesthetic events. The sublime has been theoretically connected to multiple contexts, from interactions with o...

Mental control of musical imagery is a complex but understudied process that consists of two components: initiation—whether the musical imagery experience began voluntarily or involuntarily—and management—whether instances of control occur after the experience has begun (e.g., changing the song). The present research examined these two components u...

How easily can people tune their inner radio? Musical imagery—hearing music in your mind—is common but little is known about people’s ability to control their musical imagery in daily life. A recent model (Cotter, Christensen, & Silvia, in press) distinguishes between initiation (starting musical imagery) vs. management (modifying, stopping, or sus...

This is unpublished analyses. These analyses will be written up one day but is otherwise lodged in the file drawer. Use of these analyses is permitted for meta-analytic purposes and in reference for researchers interested in the topic of Openness to Experience and humor production ability. Three raters completed ratings (0, not funny at all; 1, so...

How easily can people tune their inner radio? Musical imagery—hearing music in your mind—is common and complex, but little is known about people’s ability to control their musical imagery in daily life. A recent model proposed by Cotter, Christensen, and Silvia distinguishes between initiation (starting musical imagery) vs. management (modifying, s...

How do people come up with humorous ideas? In creative cognition research, exposure to good examples sometimes causes fixation (people get “stuck” on the examples and generate similar responses) but other times sparks inspiration (people come up with more creative responses). The present research examined the effects of funny and unfunny examples o...

Psychometric network analysis is an emerging tool to investigate the structure of psychological and psychopathological constructs. To date, most of the psychometric network literature has emphasized the measurement of constructs (e.g., dimensional structure); however, this represents only one aspect of psychometrics. In the present study, we explor...

Feeling like crying is a common response to music. Recent work suggests two forms of aesthetic crying: an awe-inspired, positive kind, and a distressed, sad kind. Besides their emotional tone, what differentiates these experiences? The present research examined the context and subjective musical content of aesthetic crying. A sample of 961 adults d...

Musical imagery—hearing music inside your head that isn’t playing in the environment—is a common yet complex experience. To capture the diversity of musical imagery, the present research develops a new conceptual framework consisting of five dimensions, including a distinction between initiation and management as different ways in which musical ima...

Supplementary Materials for "Understanding Inner Music: A Dimensional Approach to Musical Imagery"

This version of record is a post-peer review preprint of an article accepted by the European Journal of Personality. It may not represent the final published manuscript that is available through the journal (doi: 10.1002/per.2157). Data, R code, cleaning procedures, and analysis methods are all openly available on the Open Science Framework: https:...

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article accepted to the Journal of Personality Assessment (doi: 10.1080/00223891.2018.1467428). Openness to Experience is a complex trait whose taxonomic structure has been widely debated. Previous research has provided greater clarity of its lower-order structure by synthesizing facets across...

This chapter explores how ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods can illuminate everyday creativity, the often humble creative acts people do in their natural environments. After describing the notion of everyday creativity that guides this work, the present chapter reviews some common research designs and salient methodological issues for r...

Researchers in the evolutionary aesthetics tradition have suggested that people prefer shiny objects because glossiness connotes water. We consider some methodological issues in past research and present an experiment that manipulated the glossiness of metal objects. Young adults (n = 134) viewed silver coins that were either dull or in “brilliant...

Inner music—hearing music inside your head that isn’t playing in the environment—is a common experience that takes many forms. Research on inner music, however, has primarily emphasized instances of involuntary, aversive musical imagery, such as “earworms.” The present research develops a new conceptual framework, consisting of five fundamental dim...

Musical imagery—hearing music in your mind that isn’t playing in the environment—has been investigated using both retrospective methods (self-report scales of typical experiences) and in vivo methods (assessing inner music as it happens in daily life). But because musical imagery is often fleeting and on the fringe of conscious attention, retrospec...

A preference for smooth curvature, as opposed to angularity, is a well-established finding for lines, two-dimensional shapes, and complex objects, but little is known about individual differences. We used two-dimensional black-and-white shapes—randomly generated irregular polygons, and arrays of circles and hexagons—and measured many individual dif...

Music often makes people feel like crying (get a lump in their throat and tears in their eyes) or actually cry. Because crying can co-occur with so many emotions, the present study explored what feeling like crying feels like. A sample of 892 adults reported whether they could remember a time when they cried or felt like crying when listening to mu...

Involuntary musical imagery—music popping into your head that is not present in the environment—is a common experience, but relatively little is known about individual differences in involuntary musical imagery. The present research examined the Involuntary Musical Imagery Scale (IMIS), a promising new measure that assesses the frequency and qualit...

A major question for research on the development of creativity is whether it is interested in creative potential (a prospective approach that uses measures early in life to predict adult creativity) or in children's creativity for its own sake. We suggest that a focus on potential for future creativity diminishes the fascinating creative world of c...

Researchers are challenging college admissions to shift practices to become more inclusive and to consider a range of abilities, including creativity. Admissions counselors must examine limited information and then maximize what they learn. How can admissions counselors use existing data to identify creative students? Research suggests that creativ...