UNDERSTANDING THE BEAUTY APPRECIATION TRAIT. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON SEEKING BEAUTY IN ALL THINGS

Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Beauty?
• Part I: Foundations
Chapter 2: Braniac Beauty: Philosophers and Beauty
Chapter 3: Beauty Becomes: Evolving Beauty
Chapter 4: The Brain on Beauty: Neuroaesthetics
• Part II: Domains of Beauty
Chapter 5: Noticing Nature's Beauty: the Trait of Engagement with Natural Beauty
Chapter 6: Always Appreciative of Art's Beauty: The Trait of Engagement with Artistic Beauty
Chapter 7: Magnificent Moral Beauty: The Trait of Engagement with Moral Beauty
• Part III: Human Development and Beauty
Chapter 8: Beauty and the Be(a)st: Aesthetics and Pedagogy
Chapter 9: Bountiful Beauty: Increasing Appreciation of Beauty.

This book takes the reader on a grand tour of the empirical research concerning the personality trait of appreciation of beauty. It particularly focuses on engagement with natural beauty, engagement with artistic beauty, and engagement with moral beauty. The book addresses philosophers’ thoughts about beauty, especially the special emphasis on the intimate relationship between love and beauty; appreciation of beauty from an evolutionary standpoint; and the emerging science of neuroaesthetics. The book concludes with a consideration of beauty and pedagogy/andragogy, as well as methodologies to increase appreciation of beauty.

Features
• Presents a data-based, comprehensive look at empirical aesthetics
• Engages with current scholarship in neuroaesthetics
• Reviews the concept of beauty from many perspectives, including philosophy and evolution