{"id":22266,"date":"2023-03-08T11:55:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T17:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=22266"},"modified":"2023-12-04T13:50:16","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T19:50:16","slug":"the-art-of-psychology-student-research-explores-the-human-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2023\/the-art-of-psychology-student-research-explores-the-human-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of psychology: Student research explores the human mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

What you need to know:
\n\u2022 Maggie Kennedy is double-majoring in psychology and art history. Her latest research examines the human mind as portrayed through art.
\n\u2022 The Isenheim Altarpiece, for example, shows insight into mental health and disease treatment during the Renaissance.<\/p>\n

The Isenheim Altarpiece<\/a> by Matthias Gr\u00fcnewald (1512-1516) is a triptych painting depicting the suffering and crucifixion of Christ, flanked by saints Sebastian and Anthony, in its closed position. When opened, the painting shows far more joyful images of Christ\u2019s birth, resurrection, and ascension to the heavens. It is considered Grunewald\u2019s masterpiece and is an important representative of religious and Renaissance art \u2013 and it could also be considered one of the first pieces used for art therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It was shown) to patients who were being treated in a monastery by monks,\u201d explained Maggie Kennedy. \u201cThe Antonine monks, I argue, are some of the first documented therapists in history. The altarpiece was available for their patients to look at, and represented hope. The Antonine monks used the symbolism of the work to reassure their patients that things were going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may be one of the first documented uses of using art to treat psychological problems, but Kennedy says art throughout history has been a window into the human mind and its psychology. It\u2019s been the focus of her most recent research as a student working toward double majors in art history and psychology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think psychology and art history are both really interdisciplinary by nature,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are so vast that it\u2019s very easy to blend them with a lot of other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy grew up primarily in Germantown, Wisconsin. When it came time for college, she wanted a big school, plenty of choices for classes, and research opportunities. She found all three at UW-Milwaukee, which is an R1-ranked research institution.<\/p>\n

Kennedy initially majored in psychology. She had taken an AP Psychology course in high school and fell in love with the field after she and her schoolmates got to hold a human brain and spinal cord in class.<\/p>\n

She was making strides in her psychology major at 51ÁÔÆæ when a scheduling error prompted her to take an art history course instead of a course for her major. \u201cAfter four weeks, I discovered I really had a passion for art history,\u201d Kennedy laughed.<\/p>\n

What she didn\u2019t expect was how much her two majors seemed to overlap. Kennedy recalled analyzing the painter Francisco de Goya for a class and how his personal struggles with illness, blindness, and hearing loss led to some of his most striking artworks. Art history, she thought, represented a new way to analyze the mind.<\/p>\n

So when one of her English classes asked students to complete a research project on a topic of their choosing, Kennedy already knew what she wanted to explore. The result was a 20-minute presentation<\/a> on how art through time has reflected the human condition in all of its forms.<\/p>\n

She opened with two marble sculptures from ancient Greece, each showcasing the beginnings of how emotion is depicted in art. From there, Kennedy delved into post-Enlightenment romanticism, examining the conditions of an insane asylum in Francisco de Goya\u2019s Madhouse (1812-1819) and the faces of those with psychological disorders in Theodore Gericault\u2019s Monomanies series (1821-1824), among others. She also explored the horrors of battle with War Pieta by Max Ginsburg (2007) and ended with the Isenheim Altarpiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal was to show the human experience as a whole,\u201d Kennedy said of her research. \u201cHow do artistic depictions of the human experience and human emotion make us feel and think What are the tie-ins to the cultures or time periods that they\u2019re from? What are the social norms and taboos of the time, and in turn, how do they shape experience and emotion?\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, she said, the Isenheim Altarpiece is an important artwork not only for its religious significance, but also for its scientific accuracy. Originally painted for the Isenheim Monastery, the piece depicts many of its subjects with haloes of light around their heads. Kennedy said those orbs are meant to represent patients\u2019 hallucinogenic symptoms. These patients, cared for by the Antonine monks at the monastery, suffered from St. Anthony\u2019s Fire<\/a>, a disease caused by ergot poisoning that led to hallucinations, gangrene, and a burning sensation in the extremities.<\/p>\n

According to Kennedy, the Altarpiece shows that \u201cpeople are starting to understand that this (disease) isn\u2019t just \u2018crazy people seeing stuff.\u2019 Even though it\u2019s a very religious piece \u2026 they understand that St. Anthony\u2019s fire is a physical illness (versus a religious punishment),\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cThis insight is important for acknowledging the history of both scientific and philosophical psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Understanding how art and psychology relate is important, she added. Studying psychology through an art lens helps scholars better understand the human mind and how people viewed emotion, trauma, disease, and more throughout history. Kennedy stresses that while she\u2019s not yet an expert in either psychology or art history, her studies have helped her uncover one more way to examine how humanity relates to one another.<\/p>\n

Kennedy plans to graduate one year early in 2024 and is exploring options for graduate school. Until then, she\u2019ll be studying human psychology, one painting at a time.<\/p>\n

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What you need to know: \u2022 Maggie Kennedy is double-majoring in psychology and art history. Her latest research examines the human mind as portrayed through art. \u2022 The Isenheim Altarpiece, for example, shows insight into mental health and disease treatment …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32664,"featured_media":22329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1756],"tags":[1853],"class_list":["post-22266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus-2023","tag-march"],"yoast_head":"\nLetters & Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-2023\/the-art-of-psychology-student-research-explores-the-human-mind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The art of psychology: Student research explores the human mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What you need to know: \u2022 Maggie Kennedy is double-majoring in psychology and art history. 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