In this book we attempted to gather together a set of chapters that describe new ways of approaching questions about aesthetics and innovation. Rather than going over old ground, the chapters describe attempts to break out in new directions. The book begins with a description of von Ehrenfel's development of a Gestalt theory of aesthetics so evocative of the Vienna of 1900 that readers will wish that they had been there to experience the intellectual excitement and ends with a survey the very latest research on brain scan research on perception of art. In between, we encounter chapters as diverse as a description of cognitive effects on art perception and on the analogies between oscillations in art history and waves in the physical world. About half of the book contains chapters by well known western psychological aestheticians and half chapters by Russian scholars many of whom will be new to western readers. As well as describing new methods and results, the chapters by Russian scholars will be novel to most western readers, because the Russian perspective on aesthetics and innovation is rather different than the traditional western perspectives. Looking at phenomena from new viewpoints never hurts and very often helps in science.
About the Author: Leonid Dorfman is Head of the Department of Psychology at Perm State Institute of Art and Culture, Perm, Russia. He obtained his Ph.D. in psychology from Leningrad University in 1981 and D.Sc. in psychology from Psychology Institute of Russian Academy of Education, Moscow in 1994. He is the author of over 300 publications on creativity, self, individuality and aesthetics. He served as a Director of the International Council of Psychologists. Colin Martindale obtained his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1970. Since then, he has been affiliated with the University of Maine. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Perm State Institute of Art and Culture, Perm, Russia. He is the author of over 200 publications on innovation and aesthetics. He has received numerous awards for his work and served as president of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Vladimir M. Petrov is Principal Researcher at the State Institute for Art Studies and Professor at the State University of Social Sciences (Moscow). He received his Ph.D. in physics and mathematics (1968) and D.Sc. in theory of culture (1993). Petrov is an Academician of the Academy of Human Sciences and the International Informatization Academy, Vice-President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. He has written more than 450 scientific publications including 16 books