Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Register here to gain access to SAGE's 500+ Journals Online

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Greenberger, D. B.
Right arrow Articles by Allen, V. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Greenberger, D. B.
Right arrow Articles by Allen, V. L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 3, 479-483 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/014616728063025

Destruction and Complexity

An Application of Aesthetic Theory

David B. Greenberger

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Vernon L. Allen

University of Wisconsin-Madison

It is hypothesized that the enjoyment derived from destructive acts is due to the same stimulus characteristics that determine the enjoyment obtained from aesthetic experiences-that is, factors such as complexity, unexpectedness, or novelty manifested in the destruction of the object. A film was constructed that showed a series of panes of glass being broken. Five stimuli representing a wide range of subjectively scaled complexity were used in the experiment. Subjects observed all the panes of glass being broken, and rated preference for breaking each one. Subjects believed that they would be allowed to break a pane of glass of the type rated highest. As predicted, results showed a linear relation between commitment to break an object and subjective complexity.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?