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  4. Vladimir Konečni

Vladimir Konečni

Emeritus Professor

Web (Scientific Publications): http://vladimirkonecni.net/VJK_Publications/ 

Dr. Konečni has three primary research interests within experimental/social psychology. The first of these is a social-psychological analysis of legal decision-making. Specifically, he studies the factors that various participants in the legal system (police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, parole officers, etc.) take into account; he then develops causal models of legal decisions, such as the amount of bail and the length and type of sentence. In this work, there is a considerable emphasis on the use of multiple methods and the collection of data in field settings (e.g., court hearings and files).


His second area of interest is psycho-aesthetics -- the psychology of art, music, and theatre. Dr. Konečni has done research on the social, emotional, and cognitive antecedents of aesthetic preference and choice, and on the consequences of exposure to different types of art and music for social behavior and performance. Among the special topics he has studied are the 'golden section' in painting and architecture, the music of the Latin Requiem, and the relationship between music and emotion. Another long-term project has been the study of the listeners', viewers', and readers' comprehension of artist 'messages'.

Finally, he does work on the social, cognitive, and psychophysiological aspects of human emotion and motivation, especially on aggressive behavior (e.g., the 'cathartic effect') and the perception of emotional states in oneself and others.

  • Konečni, V. J. & Ebbesen, E. B. (1982). An analysis of the sentencing system. In Konečni, V. J., & Ebbesen, E. B. (Eds.), The criminal justice system: A social-psychological analysis. (Pp. 293-332.) San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
  • Konečni, V. J. (1982). Social interaction and musical preference. In D. Deutsch (Ed.), The psychology of music. (Pp. 497-516.) New York: Academic Press. (Translated into Japanese, Nihimura Co. Ltd., 1988.)
  • Konečni, V. J. (1991). Psychological aspects of the expression of anger and violence on the stage. Comparative Drama, 25, 215-241.
  • Konečni, V. J. (1991). Portraiture: An experimental study of the creative process. Leonardo, 24, 325-328.
  • Konečni, V. J., Ebbesen, E. B., & Hock, R. R. (1996). Factors affecting simulated jurors' decisions in capital cases. Psychology, Crime & Law, 2, 269-297.
  • Ebbesen, E. B., & Konečni, V. J. (1997). Eyewitness memory research: Probative v. prejudicial value. Expert Evidence, 5 (Nos. 1 & 2), 2-28.
  • Konečni, V. J. (1997). The vase on the mantelpiece: The golden section in context. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 15, 177-207.
  • Konečni, V. J. (1999). Expression and meaning in 'Tasol': Hedonic effects of development vs. chance in resolved and unresolved aural episodes. Musik Psychologie (Germany) 14, 102-123.
  • Konečni, V.J., Ebbesen, E.B., & Nehrer, E. (2000). Retrospective implications for the probative value of psychologists' testimony on eyewitness issues of exonerations by DNA evidence. Forensic psychology and law: Traditional questions and new ideas. Krakow, Poland: Institute of Forensic Psychology.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2001). The golden section in the structure of 20th-century paintings. Rivista di Psicologia dell'Arte (Italy), Nuova Serie, 22, 27-42.
  • Konečni, V. J., & Cline, L. E. (2001). The 'golden woman': An exploratory study of women's proportions in paintings. Visual Arts Research, 27, 69-78.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2003). Review of P. N. Juslin and J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), "Music and Emotion: Theory and Research." Music Perception, 20, 332-341.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2003). The golden section: Elusive, but detectable. Creativity Research Journal, 15, 267-276.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2005). On the "golden section." Visual Arts Research, 31(2), 76-87.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2005). The aesthetic trinity: Awe, being moved, thrills. Bulletin of Psychology and the Arts, 5, 27-44.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2007). Bad apples and bad barrels: Bad metaphors and blind spots regarding evil? American Psychological Society's Observer, 20, No. 5 (May), 9-10.
  • Konečni, V. J., Wanic, R. A., & Brown, A. (2007). Emotional and aesthetic antecedents and consequences of music-induced thrills. American Journal of Psychology, 120, 619-643.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2007). Music and emotion: An empirical critique of a key issue in the philosophy of music. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference (Daugavpils, Latvia, October 2007) Person - Color - Nature - Music, 2007, 31-40.
  • Konečni, V. J., Brown, A., & Wanic, R. A. (2008). Comparative effects of music and recalled life-events on emotional state. Psychology of Music, 36, 289-308.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2008). Does music induce emotion? A theoretical and methodological analysis. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2, 115-129.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2008). Review of Steven Jan's "The Memetics of Music: A Neo-Darwinian View of Musical Structure and Culture." British Journal of Aesthetics, 48(4), 463-465.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2008). A skeptical position on "musical emotions" and an alternative proposal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(5), 582-584.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2009). Mode and tempo in Western classical music of the common-practice era: My grandmother was largely right - but no one knows why. Empirical Musicology Review, 4(1), 23-26.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2009). Review of A. C. North & D. J. Hargreaves "The Social and Applied Psychology of Music." Psychology of Music, 37(2), 235-245.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2009). On the 'golden section'. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference (Daugavpils, Latvia, May 2009) Person - Color - Nature - Music, 30-42.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2009). A positive illusion about 'positive illusions'? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(6), 524-525.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2010). The influence of affect on music choice. In P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Handbook of music and emotion: Theory, research, applications. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (pp. 697-723).
  • Konečni, V. J. (2010). Responsible behavioral science generalizations and applications require much more than non-WEIRD samples. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2/3), 38-39.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2011) Aesthetic trinity theory and the sublime. Philosophy Today, 55(1), 64-73.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2012) Composers' creative process: The role of life-events, emotion and reason. In D. J. Hargreaves, D. E. Miell, & R. A. R. MacDonald (Eds.), Musical imaginations: Multidisciplinary perspectives on creativity, performance, and perception. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (pp. 141-155).
  • Konečni, V. J. (2012) Constraints on manipulations of emotions by music: A critique of Tom Cochrane's assumptions. Philosophy Today, 56(3), 327-332.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2012) Empirical psycho-aesthetics and her sisters: Substantive and methodological issues – Part I. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 46(4), 1-12. 
  • Konečni, V. J. (2013) Empirical psycho-aesthetics and her sisters: Substantive and methodological issues – Part II. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 47(1), 1-21.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2013) Revenge: Behavioral and emotional consequences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(1), 25-26. 
  • Konečni, V. J. (2013) Music, affect, method, data: Reflections on the Carroll v. Kivy debate. American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), 179-195.
  • Konečni, V. J. A (2013) A critique of emotivism in aesthetic accounts of visual art. Philosophy Today,  57(4), 388-400. 
  • Konečni, V. J. (2014). Paintings and emotion: A nonemotivist reevaluation. Proceedings of the 23rdbiennial congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, New York, USA. (CD-ROM; pp. 34-39).
  • Konečni, V. J. (2014). Three entries in “Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia,” London, UK: SAGE, Vols. 1 and 2: “Emotions, Aesthetic” Vol. 1, pp. 382-385; “Inspiration” Vol. 1, pp. 609-612; and “Music Research, Causal Effects in” Vol. 2, pp. 756-761.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2015). Emotion in painting and art installations. American Journal of Psychology, 2015, 128(3), 305-322.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2015). Being moved as one of the major aesthetic emotional states: A Commentary on “Being moved: Linguistic representation and conceptual structure. ”Frontiers in Psychology – Emotion Science, 6:343.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2015). Review of Tom Cochrane, Bernardino Fantini, and Klaus R. Scherer (Eds.), “The Emotional Power of Music: Multidisiplinary Perspectives on Musical Arousal, Expression, and Social Control.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 73(2), 214-218.
  • Konečni, V. J. (2015). Reflections on psychological and neuroaesthetics. Theoria (Belgrade, Serbia), 2015, 58(1), 5-15.

Updated August 2015