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First published online March 5, 2014

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The function of ornaments: A cultural psychological exploration

Vlad Glăveanu [email protected]View all authors and affiliations

Volume 20, Issue 1

https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X13515937

Abstract
References
Biographies

Abstract

Ornaments are ubiquitous markers of everyday life and yet frequently ignored, belittled and even contested. Moreover, current definitions locate them in the realm of the aesthetic and gratuitous. This article aims to bring ornaments to the attention of cultural psychologists by outlining a typology of their manifold functions that integrates aesthetic and utilitarian, individual and social roles. Ornaments help us to identify and locate, tell or communicate, remind and organise our action, they guide our attention, express and individualise, can generate an experience, beautify as well as re-present. These functions are illustrated with examples from a study of Easter egg decoration practices in northern Romania. In the end, the ‘meta-function’ of emergence is discussed and consideration is given to the spatial and temporal contexts of ornaments. Future opportunities for theorising ornamentation as an embodied practice characterised by repetition and rhythm are suggested.

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References

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Biographies

Vlad Glăveanu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Associate researcher at LATI, Universite Paris Descartes, and Affiliate of the Creativity Marketing Centre, ESCP Europe (London campus). He obtained his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics. He interests are in creativity and innovation, cultural psychology, social representations, social development, pragmatism, and history and psychology. He has published theoretical and empirical studies in a variety of journals and his books include Thinking through Creativity and Culture (Transaction, 2014), Distributed Creativity (Springer, 2014), and the co-edited volume Rethinking Creativity: Perspectives from Cultural Psychology (Routledge, 2014). He is also Editor of Europe's Journal of Psychology (EJOP).

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