Abstract

We often go out to the movies, theater, or ballet, preferring to share the experience with others rather than watch at home alone. We do the same with food and drink, for instance, by going to tasting rooms to sample wines and talk with others. To have these sorts of experiences, we plan, coordinate, and engage in a range of complex social practices. These practices often lead to the formation of audiences, and philosophers since Aristotle have argued that the success of certain art forms depends on audience reactions.1 In addition, many processes of aesthetic education involve individuals learning about aesthetic objects and judgments together. If so, then understanding how groups experience aesthetic objects...