Rhett Diessner

I am a developmental psychologist and professor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, USA. My home page is http://www.lcsc.edu/diessner/.

My Approach to Elevation and the Self-Transcendent Emotions

I study engagement with beauty: natural beauty, artistic beauty (in its broadest sense) and moral beauty.  My grounding in the psychology of morality began with my doctoral work under Kohlberg (and Higgins and Kegan), and my dissertation concerned understanding the moral self. My interest in moral beauty led me to Jon Haidt’s work on elevation. I am especially interested in appreciation of beauty as a self-transcendent emotion.

My Major Relevant Publications

[I will make this prettier soon]

Diessner, R., & Burke, K. (2011). The beauty of the Psyche and Eros myth: Integrating
   aesthetics into Introduction to Psychology.  Journal of Aesthetic Education, 45, 97-108.
   http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/jaesteduc.45.4.0097 http://www.lcsc.edu/diessner/Psyche%20Beau%20101%20to%20JAE%20for%20website.pdf

Diessner, R., Davis, L., & Toney, B. (2009). Empirical relationships between beauty and
        justice: Testing Scarry and elaborating Danto. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and 
        the Arts, 3, 249-258. doi:10.1037/a0014683http://www.lcsc.edu/diessner/Diessner,%20Davis,%20Toney%202009%20PACA%20justbeauty.pdf

Diessner, R., Parsons, L., Solom, R., Frost, N., & Davidson, J. (2008). Engagement with
        beauty: Appreciating natural, artistic and moral beauty. The Journal of Psychology: 
        Interdisciplinary and Applied, 142, 303-329. doi:10.1080/03057240600874430http://www.lcsc.edu/diessner/pdf/EBS%20in%20TJP%20whole%20final%20copy%202007june16.pdf

Diessner, R., Rust, T., Solom, R., Frost, N., & Parsons, L. (2006). Beauty and hope: A moral beauty intervention. Journal of Moral Education, 35, 301-317.
        doi:10.1080/03057240600874430  http://www.lcsc.edu/diessner/pdf/Hope%20&%20Beau%20JME.pdf
 
Dachs, I., & Diessner, R. (2009). German Version of the Engagement with Beauty Scale. Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research, 14(3), 87-92.

Richel, T., Diessner, R., Merchi, J., Dachs, I., Addison, & Wilson, K. (2008, March).
        International reliability studies of the Engagement with Beauty Scale (EBS). Poster
        session presented at the International Counseling Psychology Conference, Chicago, IL.
 

Miscellaneous Notes and Clippings