Friday, September 28, 2012

Perception of aesthetic beauty and cognitive limits to open-mindedness


It is obvious that some people perceive aesthetic beauty more deeply than others.

This performance exemplifies the singer's extraordinary attention to every piece of micro-detail.It is worthwhile to note that such an ability to perceive micro-detail  is partly innate and partly acquired.

I love Hariharan's singing not because  I "like" Hariharan and try to reason out later.In other words, Hariharan's singing best conforms to my model of aesthetic beauty.For example,notice the intelligent use of vocal effects(subtle changes in volume)  that has a strong connection with parts of the brain that process emotion.

A person who is rooted to his perception of aesthetic beauty will instinctively repel possible experiences that do not conform to his idea of aesthetic beauty.For instance,can a person like classical music and heavy metal  equally?Likewise, can a person be equally comfortable with people with radically different world views?
Are there practical limits to open-mindedness?If there is,how many people admit that there are biased in some form or the other?These questions are by no means rhetorical.