Cultural Diversity in Aesthetic Emotions: Concepts, Measurement, and Experience

Aesthetic emotions (such as awe, wonder, fascination, being moved, boredom, and disgust) play a central role in responses to art, music, literature, nature, ritual, and digital media. Yet the concepts, theories, and measurement tools used to study these emotions have been developed predominantly in Western languages and populations. It therefore remains unclear whether commonly used categories capture universal forms of experience, culturally specific interpretations, or distinctions shaped by particular linguistic traditions. Translation alone may not resolve this problem, as languages differ in how they categorize, metaphorically structure, and evaluate emotional experience. Cultural models and folk theories may also influence when aesthetic emotions are recognized, valued, expressed, or suppressed. At the same time, embodied and perceptual responses may reveal both shared and culturally distinctive patterns. Addressing these issues requires an interdisciplinary approach that combines psychological, linguistic, historical, anthropological, philosophical, and computational perspectives.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how cultural and linguistic contexts shape the conceptualization, categorization, measurement, and experience of aesthetic emotions. We particularly welcome cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, diachronic, experimental, corpus-based, and embodied approaches. Empirical, theoretical, methodological, and interdisciplinary contributions are encouraged, including studies examining aesthetic experience across art, music, literature, nature, ritual, performance, and digital media.Topics of interest include:- Cross-cultural and cross-linguistic variation in the conceptualization and categorization of aesthetic emotions- The role of language and culture in shaping emotional perception, differentiation, and experience- Metaphor and metonymy in aesthetic-emotion cognition across cultures and historical periods- Diachronic change in emotion concepts and its cognitive, linguistic, and cultural drivers- Cultural models, folk theories, and culturally specific vocabularies of aesthetic emotion- Embodied, behavioral, physiological, and perceptual dimensions of aesthetic experience across cultures- Corpus-based, computational, and digital-humanities approaches to emotion concepts- Development, adaptation, and validation of culturally sensitive measurement tools- Measurement equivalence and invariance across languages, cultures, and populations- Cross-cultural responses to art, music, literature, nature, ritual, performance, and digital media- Theoretical frameworks integrating universal and culturally specific dimensions of aesthetic emotionBy bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives, this Research Topic aims to move beyond culturally narrow models and foster a more inclusive, conceptually precise, and methodologically robust understanding of aesthetic emotions. Topic editors: Javier E. Díaz-Vera, Jimpei Hitsuwari, Xia Fang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86441/cultural-diversity-in-aesthetic-emotions-concepts-measurement-and-experience