The Role of Personality In Moving Encounters with Sacred Art
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies December 31, 2024 Jacob Lang, Despina Stamatopoulou, Gerald C. Cupchik
In a lab designed to evoke a holy site, 90 Christians in Canada and Greece viewed and rated Latin and Byzantine icons. Attachment style, imaginativeness, and traditional versus mystical dispositions predicted how moved people felt by the sacred art. A secure, mystically oriented perceiver was most resonant with the icons. Those with more structured religious lives tended toward a personality profile favoring logical problem-solving. The study offers a replicable methodology for investigating individual differences in moving aesthetic-religious experiences.