ABSTRACT
People vary in their susceptibility to different types of aesthetic experiences, as well as in the degree to which they value these experiences. A resurgence of interest in the psychology of aesthetics occurred in the 1970s, well represented by the work of Daniel Berlyne. Experimental approaches to aesthetics arose in the late nineteenth-century in Germany with the work of Gustav Fechner and Wilhelm Wundt. Experiences ranging from emotional reactions to interest to a sense of being transported to a perception of successful communication to awe to appreciation of beauty have all been characterized, at various times, as aesthetic. A classic aesthetic response—although comparatively neglected in music research, where liking and interest have received more attention—involves experiencing something as beautiful. For the purposes of music psychology, an aesthetic response can be thought of as a state of mind or experience that occurs in relation to a musical stimulus.
