Evaluating the Structure of the Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment (AReA) with Bootstrap Exploratory Graph Analysis

Abstract

The Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment (AReA) is a self-report scale for measuring individual differences in the strength of responses to art objects and events. Its 14 items sort into three subscales: aesthetic appreciation (AA), intense aesthetic experience (IAE), and creative behaviour. The present research evaluated the dimensionality of the AReA using tools from network psychometrics, particularly bootstrap exploratory graph analysis. Using a sample of English-speaking adults ( n  =  1071), the network analyses closely replicated the number and item composition of the AReA subscales, but one of the items—a cross-loaded item proposed to be in both the AA and IAE subscales—was not replicated. Using the bootstrap sampling distributions, we suggest item assignments that avoid awkward dual-loadings and provide a simpler dimensional structure. Taken together, the results reveal clear strengths of the AReA and illustrate how emerging network tools can illuminate and guide psychometric decisions.