The Beauty of the Psyche and Eros Myth: Integrating Aesthetics
into Introduction to Psychology
Rhett Diessner
Kayla Burke
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Volume 45, Number 4, Winter
2011, pp. 97-108 (Article)
Published by University of Illinois Press
DOI: 10.1353/jae.2011.0031
For additional information about this article
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jae/summary/v045/45.4.diessner.html
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The Beauty of the Psyche and Eros
Myth: Integrating Aesthetics into
Introduction to Psychology
RHETT DIESSNER and KAYLA BURKE
Introduction
Beginning in the late 1990s we became convinced that our undergraduate
psychology students needed classroom experiences that set the conditions
for them to become more engaged with beauty. We recognized the intrinsic importance of beauty to human psychological development, beyond
any utilitarian concerns.1 But we also believed that there were important
psychological benefits to be gained by becoming increasingly engaged with
beauty. In this paper we briefly describe some of those benefits that have
been documented in the psychological research literature in the last decade.
This paper primarily outlines a curricular recipe for infusing beauty into
an Introduction to Psychology course at the undergraduate collegiate level.
The course experientially affirms Winston’s argument “that beauty should
be one of our core educational values” and aligns itself with Winston’s summary of Plato, Schiller, and Danto that as “beauty is a deep human need and
not an option for life, then it is surely time for educationalists to rethink its
place in the life of the school.”2 We did such rethinking, and the results of
that curricular contemplation are described here.
The central theme of our beauty intervention in Psychology 101 is based
on the Psyche and Eros myth. It is an excellent vehicle, as students instantly
notice that the field of psychology shares the same name as Psyche, classically the most beautiful being in existence. During twelve weekly five-minute segments, we integrate themes of beauty from the humanities through
progressively and sequentially telling the Psyche and Eros myth to the class.
Rhett Diessner is professor of psychology at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho, where is was awarded 2005 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching Idaho Professor of the Year. He has an EdD in human development
from Harvard. His research interests include psychology of beauty and moral development, and he has recently published in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts and the Journal of Moral Education. His book, Psyche and Eros: Bahá’í
Studies in a Spiritual Psychology, was published in 2007 by George Ronald, Oxford.
Kayla Burke is an undergraduate psychology major and a research assistant to Rhett
Diessner.
Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 45, No. 4, Winter 2011
©2011 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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98 Diessner and Burke
We infuse the relevance of aesthetics to psychology by presenting artworks
based on the Psyche myth in class every week. Classical, mostly romantic
period, music CDs and MP3 files based on the myth are played. Onto a large
screen we project images of paintings and sculptures that illustrate the myth
(in particular, we use paintings that illustrate the segment of the myth that
will be told during class that day). Poetry is recited that was inspired by the
myth. Class discussion is directed toward the metaphorical and psychological meanings of various episodes of the Psyche story.
Situating Beauty in Introduction to Psychology
As inherited from Athens, the three ideal goals of Western civilization have
been truth, beauty, and the good/ethics. In this age of deconstruction these
three ideals are often examined with a suspiciously critical eye; nonetheless
those three ideals continue to exert a powerful influence on human thought
and action.3 Issues of truth, in the form of studying cognition and teaching
the scientific method, are a large part of the curriculum in the field of psychology. Likewise, “the good,” ranging across such issues as research ethics,
counseling/clinical ethics, the psychology of moral development, and the
virtues emphasized in the positive psychology movement, are commonly
present in the psychology curriculum. Issues of beauty, however, tend to be
neglected in the field of psychology,4 and, in particular, little has been published concerning emphasizing or integrating beauty into the instruction of
psychology courses. A search of “beauty” in the PsycINFO database reveals
no articles in the journal Teaching of Psychology that mention beauty. There
are only two articles related to the teaching of “aesthetics” in psychology
courses,5 both of which are only marginally relevant to emphasizing beauty
or infusing the aesthetics of the humanities into a psychology course.
As various authors who have published in the Journal of Aesthetic Education have bemoaned, there has been a steady decrease in respect and admiration for beauty among both academics and artists in the twentieth century.6 Indeed, Arthur Danto7 has documented the fall of beauty, and Elaine
Scarry8 has described the humanities turning its back on beauty. However,
Danto, Scarry, and others9 recognize that beauty has been reemerging as an
important force in art and in the philosophy of aesthetics since the 1990s.
Research on the Psychological Benefits of Engagement with Beauty
Recent research shows that appreciation of beauty is associated with
­recovering from psychological disorders, especially from depression.10
Engagement with beauty has been positively correlated with the trait of
hope,11 and most educators realize the importance of hope among their students. Higher levels of mindfulness and the qualities of being serene, alert,
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Beauty of the Psyche and Eros Myth 99
and fully engaged in the present have been associated with the character
strength of appreciation of beauty.12 The trait of gratitude, and the quality
of spiritual transcendence, both correlate positively with engagement with
beauty.13 Additionally, the greater the levels of appreciation of beauty, the
less materialistic people tend to be.14
Empathy, the key to successful interpersonal relationships, significantly
and positively correlates with appreciation of beauty, and especially engagement with moral beauty.15 Additionally, research appears to support Elaine
Scarry’s philosophical thesis that justice and beauty are connected.16 There
is empirical evidence that the character strength of fairness—that is, being a
justice-oriented person—is moderately to strongly associated with engagement with beauty.17
It has been demonstrated that gazing upon paintings that research
­subjects had previously judged as beautiful actually raises one’s pain threshold, allowing one to tolerate more physical pain. Looking upon paintings
one has judged as neutral or ugly does not have this effect. Additionally,
there are reasons to believe that this beauty effect on pain thresholds goes
beyond the influence of merely being distracted by beautiful paintings—the
perceived beauty in the paintings actually causes the effect.18
Jonathan Haidt’s research on appreciation of moral beauty (­observing
­virtuous behavior, such as self-sacrificial acts of love, mercy, or justice)
shows that it causes the emotion of elevation, which in turn creates an action tendency for people to want to become better human beings as well
as express the desire to serve the needs of others. Merely admiring others’
behavior, without recognizing their behavior as morally beautiful, does not
have this effect.19 Observing acts of moral beauty also increases the production of the neurotransmitter oxcytocin, causing humans to experience feelings of love and bonding.20
Although we are convinced of the intrinsic and nonutilitarian importance
of beauty,21 the many worthwhile psychological outcomes of being engaged
by beauty are quite notable. Our intuition tells us that most educators want
their students to be buffered from depression, more hopeful, more mindful,
more empathic, more grateful, less materialistic, more just, and more concerned with service to others. Psychological science is demonstrating that
engaging with beauty has far-ranging and powerful influences on the human psyche.
The Beauty of the Psyche Myth
To strengthen the beauty and aesthetic content of our introductory
­psychology course, we have presented the Psyche and Eros myth22 each
­semester for the last decade. The myth portrays Psyche as the most beautiful being on earth and is full of metaphors relevant to issues of beauty and
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psychological development. The myth provides the class with an engaging
shared vocabulary for discussing beauty in relation to some of the deeper
issues of psychological life. We tell the myth as a story, segmenting it into
about twelve weekly parts and presenting each part for about five minutes
(with dramatic flair, of course, and plenty of cliff-hangers). Students typically beg us not to end the telling of the myth at the end of each five-minute
unit. It is common for students to ask, three minutes before class starts, “Will
you tell more about Psyche today?” We accompany the telling of the story
with selections of music based on the Psyche myth, occasional recitation
of poetry about the Psyche myth, and copious displays of major art works
depicting various scenes from the myth. The beauty involved in the Psyche
myth (the music, paintings, ballets, plays, sculpture, and poems created to
celebrate its various meanings), seamlessly integrate aesthetics into our introductory psychology course.
Summary of the Psyche and Eros myth
Psyche, the most beautiful being in the world, is the daughter of a king and
queen in ancient Greece. Due to jealousy of Psyche’s beauty and the attention it receives, Aphrodite becomes angry and sends her son Eros to punish
Psyche. Eros, however, falls in love with Psyche and, without his mother’s
knowledge, builds a palace for her. They live happily, but eventually Psyche
becomes lonely and invites her sisters to visit. The sisters become madly
jealous of Psyche’s good fortune and poison her mind against Eros. Psyche breaks her covenant with Eros by gazing upon him, and he leaves her.
Psyche then understands that her sisters misled her and that she and Eros
were truly in love. She wanders in search of him, performing selfless good
deeds for the goddesses Ceres and Hera, but eventually submits herself to
the mercy and punishment of Aphrodite. Aphrodite then requires Psyche to
pass a series of tests and trials to earn the merit of reunion with Eros. Once
the trials are complete, Zeus bestows immortality upon Psyche, and she and
Eros are married; the result of their union is a child named Pleasure.
Summary of major metaphors of the myth
A central message of the Greek myth is that Psyche is the most beautiful
being in the world, thus signifying the beauty of the human psyche. Psyche
homonymously means both “soul” and “butterfly” in Greek, indicating that
the human psyche undergoes major transformations in its development.
Butterflies begin as an egg, then become a caterpillar (early childhood), then
a pupa or chrysalis (cf. “Freud” and latency period23), and then gloriously
burst forth from the chrysalis as they reach adulthood and ascend into their
full power and beauty (cf. Erikson and identity stage24). During the presentation of the developmental psychology unit in our introductory class,
we discuss the congruencies and incongruencies of this butterfly metaphor of human development. Psyche and Eros’s relationship is a metaphor
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Beauty of the Psyche and Eros Myth 101
­indicating that a central purpose of life is love—giving it and receiving it.
In the motivation and social psychology units of our introductory class, we
use the myth as a foil to discuss issues of love and relationships. How does
beauty relate to love? Through tests, trials, and difficulties, Psyche learns
about love, happiness, and pleasure. Is there beauty in suffering? Is there
beauty in suffering for love? What kind(s) of beauty are important to you in
a relationship?
In various paintings and sculptures of Eros, he is shown as either a
­beautiful, virile young man or as a weak, pudgy child. In the Psyche and
Eros myth he is most definitely depicted as the virile young man. Rollo
May25 has argued that the young man Eros represents a psychologically
healthy approach to sex and love. In comparison, the weak, pudgy baby
represents a cultural deterioration of love into something banal, childish,
and insipid and is a denial of the beauty of adult intimacy. We discuss this
in class when addressing Erikson’s young adult stage of intimacy versus
isolation.26 We also only use the young man Eros in images of paintings and
sculpture that we use in class.
Interpretation of the Psyche myth by psychologists
Carol Gilligan27 has made extensive use of the myth as a metaphor to
­explain the development of girls and women (as an aside, Gilligan notes that
Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, the text in which the Psyche myth is ­recorded,
was reputedly Shakespeare’s favorite book28). Jungian, Freudian, and other
depth psychologists have applied the myth to sexual awakening, feminist
issues, empowerment of women, sisterhood, and the feminine in men,29 as
have humanistic and existential psychologists.30 The myth has been used to
explore issues of the psychology of religion and the sacred.31 In a sophisticated neo-Piagetian approach for understanding mind and gender in lifespan
development, the myth has been extensively employed.32 All the authors of
the texts cited in this paragraph address issues of aesthetics in their books. It
appears that psychologists that are attracted to the Psyche myth realize that
aesthetics are a crucially important domain of human development.
Materials: Resources for Experiencing the Beauty of the Psyche Myth in
Introduction to Psychology
To illustrate or accompany the telling of the myth in our Introduction to
Psychology course, many forms of beauty are employed: the playing of
music CDs/MP3s, illustrations of paintings and sculpture, and recitation
of poetry.
Music and theatre
The following are pieces of music that we play as students walk into class
or while telling a segment of the myth (we provide the provenance of the
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music on the board or projected onto a screen). The first major opera created in England was Psyche, composed by Matthew Locke (1621–1677) in
1675.33 Locke likely selected Psyche, as Moliere (1622–1673) had just made a
big success in Paris of his tragedy ballet, Psyche, with music by Lully (1632–
1687).34 The late romantic period Danish composer Niels Gade (1817–1890)
composed a dramatic cantata in 1881, a sixteen-segment Psyche choral
piece.35 Lord Berners (English, 1883–1950) wrote music for a ballet suite,
entitled Cupid and Psyche, first performed in 1939.36 The Polish composer
Ludomir Rózycki (1884–1953) composed a five-scene opera, entitled Eros i
Psyche.37 The Spanish composer Manuel De Falla (1876–1946) composed a
wondrous tone poem, Psyché.38 Our favorite Psyche piece was composed in
France by César Franck (Belgian/German, 1822–1890), a lovely tone poem
in eight movements. It has been performed and recorded by many conductors and symphonies (including conductors Ahronovitch,39 Ashkenazy,40
Barenboim,41 Cluytens,42 Giulini,43 Latham-Koenig,44 and Toscanini45). Our
preferred version is conductor Tadaaki Otaka’s interpretation46 of Franck’s
Psyche tone poem while conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
with the BBC Welsh Chorus.
Visual art
The Psyche myth has been retold by visual artists for millennia. It can be
found on ancient Greek pottery and in Greek and Roman statuary.47 The
following include some of the images of paintings that we project in class
while telling the myth. An extensive cycle of frescoes was designed by Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520) and completed by his bottega in the Villa Farnesina, Rome. Michiel Coxie’s (Flemish, 1499–1592) Psyche drawings, inspired
by Raphael’s work, were engraved by Bernardo Daddi (Italian, 1512–1570)
and distributed throughout Europe. Perin del Vaga’s (Italian, 1501–1547)
frescoed Psyche cycle adorns the apartment of Pope Paul III in the Castel
Sant’Angelo, Rome. Giuliano Romano (Italian, 1499–1546) painted a magnificent mannerist Psyche cycle for Federico Gonzaga at the Palazzo Te in
Mantua. French Rococo master François Boucher (1703–1770) designed cartoons for a series of Psyche cycle tapestries commissioned by King Louis XV.
Neoclassical artist Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822) produced two magnificent Psyche and Eros sculptures, which now are seated in the Louvre and
the Hermitage. Pre-Raphaelite influenced painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones
(English, 1833–1898) produced his nine Psyche paintings for Palace Green,
Kensington, and seventy drawings intended to illustrate the Psyche section
of William Morris’s (English, 1868/1900) poem The Earthly Paradise.48 Those
drawings are now available to be seen, upon request, in the Ashmolean at
Oxford; John Ruskin referred to them as “faultlessly exemplary.”49 German symbolist Max Klinger’s (1857–1920) fifteen full-page engravings and
thirty-one vignettes of the Psyche myth, dedicated to Johannes Brahms, are
delightful; French symbolist Maurice Denis’s (1870–1943) Psyche cycle, in
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gentle pastel, is on display at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg; and Edmund
Dulac’s (French, 1882–1953) art deco–style watercolors illustrate Walter Pater’s (English, 1839–1894) retelling of the Psyche myth.50
Examples of much of the art mentioned above can be found through an
internet search and projected on screen during telling of the myth in class.
Additionally, hundreds of other painters, from Rubens to Picasso, have
painted at least one scene from the Psyche myth, and many of their paintings can be located online as well. A useful resource on Psyche paintings
and engravings is Cavicchioli’s The Tale of Cupid and Psyche: An illustrated
History.
Poetry and Literature
The following include some of the beautiful poems we recite in class. The
Psyche myth captured the attention of romantic period greats, such as
Keats51 in his “Ode to Psyche,” and Coleridge’s52 “Psyche,” as well as William Morris’s (famous as a designer, but also a poet) lengthy poem “The
Story of Cupid and Psyche.” Oxford art critic and novelist Walter Pater53
has retold the myth in beautiful prose, as did C. S. Lewis54 to highlight the
struggle between profane and sacred love. A. S. Byatt makes use of the myth
in her Booker Prize–winning novel Possession,55 including a poem she wrote
to illustrate one of Psyche’s trials of love.
Thus, we infuse our Introduction to Psychology course with discussion
of issues related to beauty, with visual presentation of beautiful paintings,
with auditory presentation of beautiful music, and with recitation of beautiful poetry.
Evaluating the Influence of the Psyche Myth in
Introduction to Psychology
In the last ten years of course evaluations, some students have mentioned
their high level of engagement with the telling of the Psyche myth. In spring
2008 we decided to go beyond such anecdotal feedback and become a bit
more systematic. We gave our Introduction to Psychology students a questionnaire with specific questions about the quality of their educational experience with the presentation of the myth. Although engaging with beauty
is worthwhile as an end in itself,56 we wondered whether our students perceived the emphasis on beauty, during presentation of the myth, as enhancing the course goals. The course goals, as stated in our Introduction to Psychology syllabus are as follows:
The general goal of the course is to increase our interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligence.
1. Demonstrate recognition memory of major concepts from the discipline of psychology.
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2. Demonstrate “critical thinking” about central concepts of psychology through the use of such cognitive skills as application, analysis,
and evaluation.
3. Appreciate how Psychology is related to the pursuit of the neoclassical goals of Truth, Love, and Beauty, through integrated experience
of the Arts.57
We also wished to examine whether students considered the metaphors in
the Psyche myth, which relate to human psychological development, to be
meaningful. Additionally, we were interested in whether they thought that
use of the myth encouraged them to reflect and ponder upon some of the
deeper psychological issues of life.
All eighty-one students attending class on a given day in the late spring
semester 2008, completed a Psyche and Eros myth presentation questionnaire that we had developed. The questionnaire showed an internal consistency coefficient of 0.81. The study and the questionnaire were approved by
the Institutional Review Board at Lewis-Clark State College and all ethical
research guidelines were followed. The eighty-one students represented a
wide diversity of majors: 29.9 percent natural sciences, 27.3 percent humanities, 22.1 percent social sciences, 10.4 percent vocational-technical, 6.5 percent undecided, and 3.9 percent teacher education. The participants had a
mean age of 22.2 (SD = 6.8) and were 66 percent women.
The questionnaire presented four statements, each of which was rated
on a five-point Likert scale as very true (5), true (4), neutral (3), not true (2),
very much not true (1). With question one, in regard to whether the “Psyche
presentation enhanced the achievement of the course goals,” the average
answer, on a five-point scale (with 5 high), was 3.8 (SD = 0.78), with 65 percent of the students responding with either “true” or “very true.” For question two, when prompted with whether “the Psyche myth provided meaningful metaphors about human psychological development,” the average
response was a 4.0 (SD = 0.84); 78 percent indicated this was either “true” or
“very true.” In responding to question three, “presenting the Psyche myth
was a waste of class time” (reverse scored), the average answer was a 4.3
(SD = 0.75); 90 percent responded with either “not true” or “very much not
true.” The fourth question asked whether the myth encouraged them to “reflect and ponder on some of the deeper issues of life”; the average answer
was a 3.6 (SD = 0.92), with 59 percent reporting that this was either “true” or
“very true.”
Therefore, it appears that the majority of students believe that the Psyche
myth presentation definitely enhanced their educational experience, helping
them better achieve the academic goals of the course, as well as encouraging
them to contemplate some of the more important issues of psychological
life. To be prudent, we realize the questionnaire was subjective and that a
control group was not used to ascertain to what degree the Psyche myth
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presentation actually caused change in our students. However, we trust our
students’ opinions and feel this small study does hint toward evidence of a
meaningful educational experience based on the beauty attendant in, and
accompanying, the Psyche myth.
Conclusion
This paper has been a “tale from the field.” It briefly describes our ten-year
curricular effort to infuse a crucial aesthetic value, that of beauty, into a psychology course. We outlined the approach we took with enough detail that
others could replicate it, if they wished. We aimed to avoid the level of detail
that would insult a professional educator. It is a recipe, and like all good
recipes, we anticipate that chefs reading it will immediately adapt it to their
own needs and alter it to the tastes of their clientele.
Integrating aesthetics into an Introduction to Psychology class through
the beauty of the Psyche myth is an intrinsically worthy goal.58 Engaging
with the beauty of a classical and powerful myth, engaging with the beauty
of paintings illustrating the myth, engaging with beautiful music associated
with the myth, and engaging with poetry inspired by the myth are worthwhile experiences in and of themselves.
However, integrating explicit beauty experiences into Introduction to
Psychology may also be a strategic goal, with worthwhile consequences.
The majority of our students reported, in the questionnaire results described
above, positive educational outcomes from experiencing the Psyche myth
presentations. Additionally, as reviewed above, engagement with beauty is
associated with many positive psychological consequences, such as helping
alleviate depression, developing a wide range of human virtues, becoming
more mindful, and more empathic.
As Introduction to Psychology is often a core baccalaureate class in many
college curricula, it seems important that it integrate the knowledge of the
sciences and the beautiful arts of the humanities. In particular, infusing a
class with visual and auditory images of that which is beautiful is not only
enjoyed by students, but may help achieve educational goals and objectives
in an Introduction to Psychology course.
Although our course is taught in one small state college, located in an
isolated community in the wild west of America, there is reason to believe
that a similar pedagogical approach would be worthwhile in a variety of
academic settings. Philosophers such as Arthur Danto59 consider the need
to engage with beauty a value critical for human life in general. Anthropologists such as Dorothy Washburn find beauty to be a cross-cultural aesthetic
universal.60 Culturally sensitive psychologists such as Jonathan Haidt and
Dacher Keltner consider appreciation of beauty to be a virtue in every culture.61 Therefore, it seems reasonable to propose that increasing the beauty
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content of psychology courses, in countries across the world, would be a
worthy goal and meet with pedagogical success.
President John F. Kennedy’s advice, given in a talk at Amherst College
in 1963, was, “I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of
grace and beauty.”62 It is our hope that educators in America, as well as the
rest of the world, will not be afraid to infuse the content of their courses
with beauty.
NOTES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
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We thank Division Chair Bill Clouser and the Social Science Division at LewisClark State College for support to visit the Ashmolean at Oxford to gain access
to the Burne-Jones Psyche drawings; and to visit the Villa Farnesina in Rome to
gaze rapturously upon Raphael’s Psyche frescoes. We also are grateful for librarian Becky Grinolds’s bibliographic assistance. We thank Wendy Diessner for her
reading and commenting on an earlier draft.
Joe Winston, “Beauty, Goodness and Education: The Arts Beyond Utility,” Journal of Moral Education 35 (2006): 285–300; Joe Winston, “‘An Option for Art But
Not an Option for Life’: Beauty as an Educational Imperative,” Journal of Aesthetic Education 42 (2008): 71–87.
Winston, “‘An Option for Art But Not an Option for Life,’” 72, 85.
Howard Gardner, The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999), 16–19.
Rhett Diessner et al., “Engagement with Beauty: Appreciating Natural, Artistic
and Moral Beauty,” Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied 142 (2008):
303–29.
John R. Hovancik, “Using Microcomputers in the Undergraduate Laboratory,”
Teaching of Psychology 13 (1986): 94–96; Vivian P. Makosky, “Identifying Major
Techniques of Persuasion,” Teaching of Psychology 12 (1985): 42–43.
Howard Cannatella, “Is Beauty an Archaic Spirit in Education?,” Journal of Aesthetic Education 40 (2006): 94–103; David Carrier, “The Beauty of Henri Matisse,”
Journal of Aesthetic Education 38 (2004): 80–87; Stuart Richmond, “Remembering
Beauty: Reflections on Kant and Cartier-Bresson for Aspiring Photographers,”
Journal of Aesthetic Education 38 (2004): 78–88; Winston, “‘An Option for Art But
Not an Option for Life.’”
Arthur C. Danto, The Abuse of Beauty: Aesthetics and the Concept of Art (Chicago:
Open Court, 2003).
Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1999).
Rhett Diessner, Lisa Davis, and Brett Toney, “Empirical Relationships Between
Beauty and Justice: Testing Scarry and Elaborating Danto,” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts 3 (2009): 249–58; Marcia M. Eaton, “Kantian and
Contextual Beauty,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57 (1999): 11–16.
Chris Peterson, Nansook Park, and Martin E. P. Seligman, “Greater Strengths
of Character and Recovery from Illness,” Journal of Positive Psychology 1 (2006):
17–26.
Rhett Diessner et al., “Beauty and Hope: A Moral Beauty Intervention,” Journal
of Moral Education 35 (2006): 301–17.
Richard Cattron, “Beauty and Mindfulness,” Lewis-Clark State College Undergraduate Student Research Excellence Journal 2, no. 3 (2009): 1–15.
Diessner et al., “Engagement with Beauty.”
Ibid.
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Beauty of the Psyche and Eros Myth 107
15. Amy Smith, Daniel Mayton, and Rhett Diessner, “Empathy and Engagement
with Beauty” (unpublished manuscript, 2009).
16. Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just.
17. Diessner et al., “Empirical Relationships Between Beauty and Justice.”
18. Marina de Tommaso, Michele Sardaro, and Paolo Livrea, “Aesthetic Value
of Paintings Affects Pain Thresholds,” Consciousness and Cognition 17 (2008):
1152–62.
19. Sara B. Algoe and Jonathan Haidt, “Witnessing Excellence in Action: The OtherPraising Emotions of Elevation, Admiration, and Gratitude,” Journal of Positive
Psychology 4 (2009): 105–27.
20. Jennifer A. Silvers and Jonathan Haidt, “Moral Elevation Can Induce Nursing,”
Emotion 8 (2008): 291–95.
21. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, trans. Werner Pluhar (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987); Winston, “‘An Option for Art But Not an Option for Life.’”
22. Edward J. Kenney, trans., Apuleius: Cupid and Psyche (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1990). With regard to the above section heading, we note that
Bulfinch’s classic collection of myths is subtitled “Beauties of Mythology,” indicating the inherent beauty of Greek myths; Thomas Bulfinch, The Age of Fable or
Beauties of Mythology, ed. J. Loughran Scott (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1898).
23. Sigmund Freud, An Outline of Psychoanalysis, trans. James Strachey (New York:
W. W. Norton, 1949), 27.
24. Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (New York: Norton, 1950), 261–63.
25. Rollo May, “Eros in Conflict with Sex,” in Love and Will (New York: Norton,
1969), 64–98. See also, Rollo May, My Quest for Beauty (Dallas: Saybrook, 1985).
26. Erikson, Childhood and Society.
27. Carol Gilligan, The Birth of Pleasure (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002); Carol Gilligan, “Recovering Psyche: Reflections on Life-History and History,” Annuals of
Psychoanalysis 32 (2004): 131–47.
28. Gilligan, The Birth of Pleasure, 27.
29. Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy
Tales (New York: Vintage, 1977); Christine Downing, Psyche’s Sisters: ReImagining the Meaning of Sisterhood (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988); James
Gollnick, Love and the Soul: Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche
Myth (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992); Robert A. Johnson, She: Understanding Feminine Psychology (New York: Harper and Row,
1976); Erich Neumann, Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine, trans. Ralph Manheim (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972);
Marie-Louise Von Franz, The Golden Ass of Apuleius: The Liberation of the Feminine in Man (Boston: Shambala, 1992); Polly Young-Eisendrath and Florence
Wiedemann, Female Authority: Empowering Women through Psychotherapy (New
York: Guilford, 1987).
30. Jean Houston, The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology and Sacred Psychology (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1987); May, Love and Will.
31. Rhett Diessner, Psyche and Eros: Bahá’í Studies in a Spiritual Psychology (Oxford:
George Ronald, 2007); Houston, The Search for the Beloved.
32. Gisela Labouvie-Vief, Psyche and Eros: Mind and Gender in the Life Course (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
33. Matthew Locke, Psyche (Opera in 5 Acts), conducted by Phillip Pickett (Oakhurst,
NJ: Musical Heritage Society, 1995).
34. Jean-Baptiste Lully, Psyché, conducted by Paul O’Dette (Bremen, Germany: CPO,
2008).
35. Niels W. Gade, Psyche, conducted by Frans Rasmussen (Klampenborg, Denmark:
Kontrapunkt, SteepleChase Productions, 1997).
36. Lord Berners, Cupid and Psyche (Ballet Suite), conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
(Munich, Germany: Marco Polo, 1995).
37. Ludomir Rózycki, Eros i Psyche, conducted by Antoni Wicherek (Warsaw, Poland: PNCD, 2004).
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108 Diessner and Burke
38. Manuel De Falla, Psyché, conducted by Brett Kelly (Munich, Germany: Naxos/
HNH International, 1998).
39. César Franck, Psyché Symphonic Poem, conducted by Yuri Ahronovitch (Neuhausen, Germany: Profil, 2008).
40. César Franck, Psyché, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (London: Decca, 1990).
41. César Franck, Psyché Poème Symphonique, conducted by Daniel Barenboim (Hamburg, Germany: Deutsche Grammophon, 1976).
42. César Franck, Psyché-suite, conducted by André Cluytens (Paris, France: Testament/EMI, 1998).
43. César Franck, Psyché et Eros, conducted by Carlo Maria Guilini (Hamburg, Germany: Deutsche Grammaphon/Polydor, 1987).
44. César Franck, Psyché, Four Orchestral Extracts, conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig
(Strasbourg, France: Avie/Ville Strasbourg Orchestre Philharmonique, 2002).
45. César Franck, Psyché, conducted by Arturo Toscanini (Milan, Italy: Arkadia,
1991).
46. César Franck, Psyché Complete, conducted by Tadaaki Otaka (Colchester, England: Chandos Records, 1995).
47. Sonia Cavicchioli, The Tale of Cupid and Psyche: An Illustrated History, trans. Susan
Scott (New York: George Braziller, 2002).
48. William Morris, The Earthly Paradise: A Poem (London: Longmans, Green, 1900).
49. John Ruskin, The Lamp of Beauty: Writings on Art, ed. Joan Evans (London: Phaidon, 1995), 178.
50. Walter Pater, The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche: Re-told by Walter Pater from “The
Golden Ass” of Lucius Apuleius (Norwalk, CT: Easton, 1951).
51. John Keats, Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of Keats, ed. Harold Edgar Briggs
(New York: Modern Library, 1967), 289–90.
52. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Selected Poetry and Prose, ed.
Elizabeth Schneider (New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1951), 140–41.
53. Pater, The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche.
54. Clive Staples Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (San Diego, CA: Harcourt,
Brace and Jovanovich, 1984).
55. Antonia S. Byatt, Possession (New York: Vintage International, 1990), 178.
56. Kant, Critique of Judgment; Winston, “Beauty, Goodness and Education.”
57. Rhett Diessner, “Syllabus: Introduction to Psychology 101” (Lewiston, ID: Lewis-Clark State College), 1.
58. Winston, “Beauty, Goodness and Education.”
59. Danto, The Abuse of Beauty.
60. Dorothy Washburn, “Aesthetic Universals in Cultural Perception and Practice,”
in New Directions in Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, ed. Paul Locher, Colin Martindale, and Leonid Dorfman (Amityville, NY: Baywood, 2006), 59–75.
61. Jonathan Haidt and Dacher Keltner, “Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence,” in
Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook of Classification, ed. Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)), 537–52.
62. John F. Kennedy. “President John F. Kennedy: Remarks at Amherst College, October 26, 1963,” http://arts.endow.gov/about/Kennedy.html (accessed July 6,
2009).
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