Does the Phineas Gage effect extend to aesthetic value?

Abstract

In the last 20 years, a large number of studies have investi gated judgments of the identity of various objects (e.g., per sons, material objects, institutions) over time. One influential strand of research has found that identity judgments are shaped by normative considerations. People tend to believe that moral improvement is more compatible with the conti nuity of identity of a person than moral deterioration, suggest ing that persons are taken to be essentially morally good. This asymmetry is often referred to as the “Phineas Gage effect”. However, normativity extends beyond morality. In particular, it is unknown whether changes in aesthetic value have a similar impact on identity judgments. We investigate whether works of art would be analogously seen as essentially aesthetically valuable. We ran four studies (N = 1264) to explore whether aesthetic considerations have a similar influence on judgments of the identity of artworks. We presented the participants with stories describing either a painting or a musical work which undergoes changes and becomes either more or less aesthe tically valuable. Overall, we found only mixed evidence for the Phineas Gage effect in relation to the aesthetic value of art works. Other factors, such as moral value, seem to have a bigger impact on judgments of persistence.