The unexplored territory of aesthetic needs and the development of the Aesthetic Needs Scale

Abstract

Human needs, and their fulfillment, are the building blocks of human development, personality, and well-being. However, no published paper in the field of psychology has focused on exploring aesthetic needs. Maslow (1986) gave the topic little more than a paragraph; and Dweck [1], in her elegant Unified Theory of Motivation, Personality, and Development, never mentions aesthetic needs. The aim of this article is to describe developing a scale for measuring the intensity of aesthetic needs. The structure, psychometric properties, and criterion-related validity of the scale were verified with three independent samples (total N = 592). The results of an EFA and two CFAs indicated a three-factor structure: 1) the need to aestheticize everyday life (aesthetic experiences of everyday objects and events unrelated to art, such as the presentation of food or the appearance of a workspace, etc.); 2) the need for contact with aesthetic creations (the arts); 3) the need to aestheticize the built and natural environments (urban spaces, architecture, parks, wild nature, etc.). In addition, our criterion-related convergent validity studies have shown that people with high aesthetic needs are characterized by experiencing more intense experiences in contact with works of art, have higher aesthetic competence in art, are more intensely involved in four forms of beauty, have a higher ability to integrate beauty, a stronger trait gratitude, curiosity about nature, greater sensitivity to disgust, and the need for internal and external stimulation. This scale may prove useful in research on individual differences and the psychology of aesthetics.