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Home: Our Faculty: Brooklyn College Faculty:

Aaron Kozbelt

Associate Professor   Department: Psychology   Location: 4201b James Hall   Phone: 718-951-5000 x6009   Fax: 718-951-4814   Email:

Aaron Kozbelt's research program, focusing on creativity and cognition in the arts, derives largely from his outside interests. In addition to his training in psychology, he has spent over 20 years as a practicing visual artist, and his initial research forays grew directly out of his experiences as an artist. Kozbelt has also incorporated his long-standing interest in classical music into a line of archival research examining patterns of creativity over the lifespan of classical composers. More recently, he has started research on creative cognition, humor production and sexual selection, and metacognition and evaluation in creative problem solving. Education: Ph.D., University of Chicago - 2002 (Psychology: Cognition and Communication) B.S., Carnegie Mellon University - 1995 (Psychology) Areas of Expertise: Analyses of artists' problem-solving, evaluative and metacognitive processes, and their relation to creativity; archival studies of creativity over the lifespan, especially among classical composers, addressing how creativity changes with expertise, and the reliability of self-criticism processes; the psychological nature of skilled artistic drawing and its relation to artists' visual perception abilities and art history; psychology of humor, including links to evolutionary theory. Books and Publications "Ludwig van Beethoven." Encyclopedia of Creativity, 2nd ed. Eds. M.A. Runco and S. Pritzker. Elsevier. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 "Michelangelo Buonarroti." Encyclopedia of Creativity, 2nd ed. Eds. M.A. Runco and S. Pritzker. Elsevier. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 "Theories of Creativity." Encyclopedia of Creativity, 2nd ed. Eds. M.A. Runco and S. Pritzker. Elsevier. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Fayena-Tawil, F., Kozbelt, A., & Sitaras, L. (in press). Think global, act local: A protocol analysis comparison of artists? and non-artists? cognitions, metacognitions, and evaluations while drawing. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Kozbelt, A. (2010). Psychology. In P. Seldin, E. Miller, & C. A. Seldin (Eds.), The teaching portfolio, 4th ed. (pp. 328-338). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2010 Kozbelt, A. (in press). Age and aesthetic significance in classical music: A multi-level reanalysis of Halsey?s (1976) ratings. Empirical Studies of the Arts. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Kozbelt, A. (in press). Neuroaesthetics: Where things stand now. The Evolutionary Review. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Kozbelt, A. and K. Nishioka. "Humor Comprehension, Humor Production, and Insight: An Exploratory Study." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Kozbelt, A., & Meredith, D. (in press). A note on trans-historical melodic originality trends in classical music. International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 Kozbelt, A., A. Seidel, A. ElBassiouny, Y. Mark and D.R. Owen. "Visual Selection Contributes to Artists' Advantages in Representational Drawing." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 93-102. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2010 Kozbelt, A., R. Beghetto and M.A. Runco. "Theories of Creativity." The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Eds. R.J. Sternberg and J.C. Kaufman. In press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010 "Maybe, Maybe Even Probably, but Not Necessarily: Response to Martindale." Empirical Studies of the Arts 27: 167-71. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2009 "Ontogenetic Heterochrony and the Creative Process in Visual Art: A Précis." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 3: 35-37. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2009 "Performance Time Productivity and Versatility Estimates for 102 Classical Composers." Psychology of Music 37: 25-46. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2009 "The Evolution of Evolvability, Applied to Human Creativity." International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving 19: 101-21. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2009 Kaufman, S.B. and A. Kozbelt. "The Tears of a Clown: Understanding Comedy Writers." The Psychology of Creative Writing. Eds. S.B. Kaufman and J.C. Kaufman. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 80-97. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2009 Kozbelt, A. and J. Serafin. "Dynamic Evaluation of High- and Low-Creativity Drawings by Artist and Non-Artist Raters." Creativity Research Journal 21: 349-60. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2009 "E.H. Gombrich on Creativity: A Cognitive-Historical Case Study." Creativity Research Journal 20: 93-104. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 "Gombrich, Galenson, and Beyond: Integrating Case Study and Typological Frameworks in the Study of Creative Individuals." Empirical Studies of the Arts 26: 51-68. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 "Hierarchical Linear Modeling of Creative Artists' Problem Solving Behaviors." Journal of Creative Behavior 42: 181-200. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 "Longitudinal Hit Ratios of Classical Composers: Reconciling Darwinian and Expertise Acquisition Perspectives on Lifespan Creativity." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 2: 221-35. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 "One-Hit Wonders in Classical Music: Evidence and (Partial) Explanations for an Early Career Peak." Creativity Research Journal 20: 179-95. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 Kaufman, S.B., A. Kozbelt, M.L. Bromley, and G.F. Miller. "The Role of Creativity and Humor Ability in Human Mating." Mating Intelligence: Theoretical and Empirical Insights into Intimate Relationships. Eds. G. Geher and G.F. Miller. Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum. 227-62. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2008 Kozbelt, A. and S.B. Kaufman. Review of The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach, by Rod A. Martin. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 2: 184-85. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Review of Independents: A Guide for the Creative Spirit (DVD), by Chris Brandt. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 2: 186-87. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Review of Musical Creativity: Multidisciplinary Research in Theory and Practice, edited by Irène Deliège and Geraint A. Wiggins. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 2: 181-82. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008 Seeley, W.P. and A. Kozbelt. "Art, Artists, and Perception: A Model for Premotor Contributions to Perceptual Analysis and Form Recognition." Philosophical Psychology 21: 149-71. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008 "A Quantitative Analysis of Beethoven as Self-Critic: Implications for Psychological Theories of Musical Creativity." Psychology of Music 35: 147-72. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007 Kozbelt, A. and W.P. Seeley. "Integrating Art Historical, Psychological, and Neuroscientific Explanations of Artists' Advantages in Drawing and Perception." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 1: 80-90. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007 Kozbelt, A. and Y. Durmysheva. "Lifespan Creativity in a Non-Western Artistic Tradition: A Study of Japanese Ukiyo-e Printmakers." International Journal of Aging and Human Development 65: 23-51. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007 Kozbelt, A. and Y. Durmysheva. "Understanding Creativity Judgments of Invented Alien Creatures: The Role of Invariants and Other Predictors." Journal of Creative Behavior 41: 223-48. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007 Kozbelt, A. and Z. Burger-Pianko. "Words, Music, and Other Measures: Predicting the Repertoire Popularity of 597 Schubert Lieder." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts1: 191-203. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2007 "Dynamic Evaluation of Matisse's 1935 'Large Reclining Nude.'" Empirical Studies of the Arts 24: 119-37. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2006 "Psychological Implications of the History of Realistic Depiction: Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, and CGI." Leonardo 39: 139-44. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2006 "Factors Affecting Aesthetic Success and Improvement in Creativity: A Case Study of the Musical Genres of Mozart." Psychology of Music 33: 235-55. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2005 "Originality and Technical Skill as Components of Artistic Quality." Empirical Studies of the Arts 22: 157-70. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004 "Products and Processes of Artistic Creation." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2002 "Artists as Experts in Visual Cognition." Visual Cognition 8: 705-23. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2001 Hayes, J.R., K. Kotovsky, A. Kozbelt and A. Weissman. "Where Does Students' Time Go?" Center for Innovation in Learning at Carnegie Mellon Research Brief 1 (2), February. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 1999 "Object Recognition in Picasso's Abstract Art." The Sloping Halls Review: Selected Works by H&SS Undergraduates, Volume 2. Pittsburgh: College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University. 23-36. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 1995 Creative Work Portraits of Benjamin Ulysses Kozbelt original art, accompanied by a talk, Biannual Conference of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Chicago, August 21. Proceedings of the Twentieth Biennial Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (CD-ROM). Ed. K.S. Bordens. 2008 Documenting the evolution of three large works-in-progress: "Napoleon in Egypt," "The Bark" and "St. Sebastian." Exhibition of original art, accompanied by a talk, 2006 Biannual Conference of the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics, Avignon, France, September 1. Culture and Communication: Proceedings of the XIX Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. H. Gottesdiener and J.C. Vilatte. Avignon, France: IAEA. 337-40. 2006 H.C.E.J.J. and Requiem for Heinz R. Pagels original drawings, accompanied by a talk, Biannual Conference of the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics, Lisbon, Portugal, September. Published in Art and Science: Proceedings of the XVIII Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. J.P. Frois, P. Andrade and J.F. Marques. Lisbon, Portugal: IAEA. 705-08. 2004 Awards, Honors and Fellowships National Science Foundation grant, for "Dynamic Cognitive Analyses of Creativity, Expertise, and Aesthetics in Software Development," with Scott Dexter. $698,992, 2009-12. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009 Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Award, International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. (Awards and Honors) 2008 APA Division 10 Daniel Berlyne Award for Creativity Research. (Awards and Honors) 2007 CUNY Academy William Stewart Travel Award. (Awards and Honors) 2004 University of Chicago John Dewey Lectureship. (Awards and Honors) 2002 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 2001 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 2000 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 1999 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 1998 University of Chicago Century Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 1997 Carnegie Mellon Fifth-Year Scholarship. (Grants and Fellowships) 1995 Phi Beta Kappa. (Awards and Honors) 1995 Timken Corporation Full Undergraduate Scholarship. (Grants and Fellowships) 1991 Research Activities Dynamic evaluation of high- and low-creativity drawings; dynamic evaluation of Matisse paintings of the 1930s; psychophysical comparisons of artists and non-artists' perceptual and perceptual organizational capabilities; visual selection as an explanation for artists' advantages in drawing; sex differences in humor appreciation, comprehension and production, and their relation to divergent thinking and intelligence; reliability of self-criticisms among classical composers; analyses of longitudinal masterpiece quality trends among classical composers; verbal versus musical measures as predictors of the aesthetic success of classical music lieder; multi-level analyses of trans-historical and within-composer melodic originality trends; opera highlights as a predictor of aesthetic success; development and validation of a survey instrument to assess individual differences in approaches to creative problem solving. 2010 Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums Dolese, M.J., A. Kozbelt and C.D. Hardin. "Art Perceived as a Vehicle of Communication: The Effect of Communicative Information on Art Appreciation" poster, Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Durmysheva, Y. and A. Kozbelt. "The Creative Approach Questionnaire: Relation to Existing Psychological Measures," Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Kaufman, S.B., Erickson, J., Ramesh, S., Kozbelt, A., Magee, M., & Kaufman, J.C. (2010). What are funny people like? Presentation given at the Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES), Eugene, Oregon. July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Kozbelt, A., J. Ostrofsky, A. Seidel, M.J. Dolese, F. Guerriero, R.C. Brejt and T.A. Schlieben. "Perceptual Processes and Visual Selection as Predictors of Drawing Skill," Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Ostrofsky, J., A. Kozbelt and D.D. Kurylo. "A Comparison of Perceptual Grouping Thresholds between Visual Artists and Non-Artists" poster, Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Seidel, A. and A. Kozbelt. "Inverting an Image Contributes to Drawing Accuracy among Non-Artists," Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Serafin, J., A. Kozbelt, A. Seidel and M. Dolese. "Dynamic Evaluation of High- and Low-Creativity Drawings by Artist and Non-Artist Raters: A Methodological Extension" poster, Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010 Kaufman, S.B., J.E. Erikson, J.Y. Huang, S. Ramesh, A. Thompson, A. Kozbelt, E.S. Paul and J.C. Kaufman. "Art as an Aphrodisiac: Creative Mate Preferences as a Function of Actual and Self-Perceived Intelligence and Creativity," Third Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society, Oswego, New York, July 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009 "Ontogenetic Heterochrony as a Framework for Understanding Creativity in the Visual Arts," Biannual Meeting of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, Chicago, August 19. Published in Proceedings of the Twentieth Biennial Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (CD-ROM). Ed. K.S. Bordens. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008 "Ontogenetic Heterochrony as a Framework for Understanding Creativity in Visual Art," Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston, August 17. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008 "The Evolution of Human Creativity," The Evolution of Intelligent Behavior Symposium, 12th Annual Faculty Day Conference, Brooklyn College, May 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008 Kozbelt, A. and A. Seidel. "Evidence for Visual Selection as an Explanation for Artists' Advantages in Drawing," Biannual Meeting of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, Chicago, August 20. Published in Proceedings of the Twentieth Biennial Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (CD-ROM). Ed. K.S. Bordens. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008 Serafin, J. and A. Kozbelt. "Dynamic Evaluation of High- and Low-Creativity Drawings by Artist and Non-Artist Raters," Biannual Meeting of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, Chicago, August 20. Published in Proceedings of the Twentieth Biennial Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (CD-ROM). Ed. K.S. Bordens. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008 "Aesthetics and the Process of Creation," 11th Annual Faculty Day Conference, Brooklyn College, May 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007 "Chance, Control, and Evaluation in Creativity" keynote address, American Psychological Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007 "Creativity Over the Lifespan in Classical Composers: Reconciling Expertise and Darwinian Perspectives," Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, March 27. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 "Drawing What They See: Artists and Visual Perception," Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, New York, January 25. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 "E.H. Gombrich on Creativity in the Arts: A Cognitive-Historical Case Study." Culture and Communication: Proceedings of the XIX Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. H. Gottesdiener and J.C. Vilatte. Avignon, France: IAEA. 762-65. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006 "Lifespan Creativity in 'One-Hit' Classical Composers: Evidence and an Explanation for an Early Career Peak," 28th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Vancouver, British Columbia, July 27. Archived online at www.cogsci.rpi.edu/CSJarchive/Proceedings/2006/docs/p441.pdf. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006 "Neglected Issues in the Study of Creativity: Learning Over the Lifespan and Dynamic Evaluation," . Department of Psychology, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, December 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 "Some Neglected Issues in the Study of Creativity: Learning Over the Lifespan and Dynamic Evaluation," Department of Psychology, College of Staten Island (CUNY), November 1. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006 Durmysheva, Y. and A. Kozbelt. "Lifespan Creativity in Japanese Ukiyo-e Printmakers." Culture and Communication: Proceedings of the XIX Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. H. Gottesdiener and J.C. Vilatte. Avignon, France: IAEA. 758-61. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006 "Creativity in Classical Composers and Visual Artists," Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar, Brooklyn College, October 26. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005 "Learning and Creativity in Classical Composers," 26th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Chicago, August 5. Archived online at: www.cogsci.northwestern.edu/cogsci2004/papers/paper194.pdf. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004 "Re-examining the Equal-Odds Rule in Classical Composers." Art and Science: Proceedings of the XVIII Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. J.P. Frois, P. Andrade and J.F. Marques. Lisbon, Portugal: IAEA. 540-43. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004 Seeley, W.P. and A. Kozbelt. "A Visuomotor Skill Model for Artists' Advantages in Drawing, Visual Analysis, and Form Recognition." Art and Science: Proceedings of the XVIII Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Eds. J.P. Frois, P. Andrade and J.F. Marques. Lisbon, Portugal: IAEA. 645-48. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004 "Creativity Over the Lifespan in Classical Composers," Psychology Department Colloquium, Brooklyn College, October 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2003 "Paying Attention: Constructing Perception in Art," Cognitive Science Colloquium, Brooklyn College, December 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003 "Problem Solving Strategies that Distinguish Creative Artists" poster, 25th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Boston, July 31. Archived online at: http://www.ccm.ua.edu/pdfs/299.pdf. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2003 "Products and Processes of Artistic Creation," Psychology Department, Brooklyn College, April 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2002 "Products and Processes of Artistic Creation," Psychology Department, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, February 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2002 "Thinking in and about Creativity," First International Creativity and Innovation Day, Chicago, April 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2002 "Artistic Creativity," Graduate Council Student Talk Series, University of Chicago, May 1. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2001 "Artistic Creativity," Social Sciences Division, University of Chicago, October 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2001