The Distance-Embracing (D-E) model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception lays out a framework for understanding the paradoxical exposure to and enjoyment of negatively valenced artworks. But clearly, not everyone enjoys disturbing or unpleasant art. Although some people seek or relish it, others go to great lengths to protest or decry its existence and public display. While the authors acknowledge the existence of individual differences, the D-E model itself does not elaborate on the exact nature of such differences or how these differences should be understood in relation to known dimensions of personality. Yet, a better understanding of how people differ in their engagement with negatively valenced art is crucial for insight into the factors that lead to such engagement. In this commentary, we elaborate on the role of individual differences, focusing on the role of two traits – openness to experience and sensation seeking.

Both openness and sensation seeking are traits that describe approach tendencies, but toward partly different situations. Openness reflects cognitive exploration (DeYoung Reference DeYoung, Larsen and Cooper2014) and is related to consumption of visual art, literary works of fiction, and classical concert attendance – meaning-making art. Sensation seeking, on the other hand, describes thrill and excitement seeking and is related to enjoyment of horror and thriller movies, disturbing and sexual art – thrill-chasing art.

Openness, as one of the five-factor model dimensions of personality, is not the usual suspect when it comes to predicting emotional experiences. Yet, this is unjustified, particularly in the aesthetic context. Below we identify three pathways of how openness connects to aspects of the D-E model. First, openness is the strongest personality predictor of powerful aesthetic experiences. For instance, open people are more likely to report chills, awe, and immersion and feel like crying in aesthetic contexts (Cotter et al., Reference Cotter, Silvia and Fayn2017; Silvia & Nusbaum Reference Silvia and Nusbaum2011; Silvia et al. Reference Silvia, Fayn, Nusbaum and Beaty2015; Weibel et al. Reference Weibel, Wissmath and Mast2010). Thus, feeling moved is one mechanism from the D-E model that may be responsible for the association between openness and engagement with negatively valenced art. This is supported by consistent evidence indicating that open people are more likely to enjoy sad music (Ladinig & Schellenberg Reference Ladinig and Schellenberg2012; Vuoskoski et al. Reference Vuoskoski, Thompson, McIlwain and Eerola2012) and appreciate negatively valenced abstract art (Rawlings Reference Rawlings2003).

Second, open people's emotional reactions to art tend to be complex. In particular, mixed emotional states and evaluations, an aspect of the D-E model, are more frequently reported by open people both generally (Barford & Smillie Reference Barford and Smillie2016) and in response to visual arts (Barford et al., under review). Further, open people have more nuanced emotional experiences with art, in that they tend to experience negative emotions in a more differentiated way (Fayn et al. Reference Fayn, Silvia, Erbas, Tiliopoulos and Kuppensin press-a). Thus, open people are less valence focused when it comes to engaging with negatively themed art, which may allow them to appreciate other aspects of artworks. Indeed, art expertise – a strong correlate of openness – has been shown to predict focus on more stylistic, formal, and historical features of artworks (Parsons Reference Parsons1987). Such sensitivity and attentiveness to stylistic and formal features of art relate to the sensitivity to the aesthetic virtues aspect of the D-E model. Thus, open people may experience more mixed and nuanced states because of greater appreciation of the aesthetic virtues of negatively valenced artworks.

Third, openness is associated with a particular motivation for engagement with art. Although many people engage with the arts for the sake of enjoyment (a hedonic motivation), open people are more likely to engage with art with meaning-making motivations (a eudemonic motivation [Oliver & Raney Reference Oliver and Raney2011]). This particular type of engagement is reflected in the meaning construction part of the D-E model. Interest in particular – a state associated with intellectual pleasure and eudemonic motivation – is crucial in understanding engagement with negatively themed art as it can be experienced independently from pleasure (Turner & Silvia Reference Turner and Silvia2006). Because open people are especially prone to experiences of interest, and particularly interest in novel and complex art (Fayn et al. Reference Fayn, MacCann, Tiliopoulos and Silvia2015; Reference Fayn, Silvia, MacCann and Tiliopoulosin press-b; Silvia et al. Reference Silvia, Fayn, Nusbaum and Beaty2015), they may be more likely to engage and appreciate art with negative themes in the absence of pleasure.

Sensation seeking is similar to openness, in that they both represent approach tendencies, but the traits are distinct in terms of the types of experiences sought. Consequently, associations between aesthetic preferences and sensation seeking are similar yet distinct from those with openness. Sensation seekers, like open people, prefer complex and abstract visual art (Furnham & Bunyan Reference Furnham and Bunyan1988). However, unlike openness, sensation seeking predicts liking violent and horror films (Aluja-Fabregat Reference Aluja-Fabregat2000; Tamborini & Stiff Reference Tamborini and Stiff1987) and unpleasant representational visual art (Rawlings Reference Rawlings2003). Thus, sensation seekers appear to enjoy a broader range of negatively valenced art, unlike open people, whose enjoyment of negative art is restricted to more highbrow art forms. As such, the influence of sensation seeking is more likely to manifest because of the increased arousal that negatively valenced art is capable of producing, as described in the interplays of positive and negative emotions aspect of the D-E model. Interestingly, both openness and sensation seeking independently predicted liking unpleasant abstract visual art, but not unpleasant representational visual art (Rawlings Reference Rawlings2003). Open people may like the negatively valenced art because of its abstract and therefore complex nature, rather than the negative content, whereas sensation seekers may appreciate negative art regardless of type (abstract versus representational), because of the thrills and arousal such art can elicit.

In summary, we propose that individual differences are an important aspect of the D-E model, as not all people engage with negatively themed art. As such, already existing knowledge of the relationship between personality traits and art engagement is informative in understanding the processes that facilitate engagement with negatively themed art. Future work on the D-E model should consider the influence of openness and sensation seeking, particularly with respect to selecting subjects and stimuli for future research.