1. Introduction

From prehistoric cave paintings to modern digital installations, humans across cultures and centuries have displayed an insatiable drive to produce and engage with art. This persistent phenomenon suggests that art is not a mere luxury of advanced civilizations, but rather a universal feature of humanity [1]. Archaeological findings reveal that even early Homo sapiens invested significant time and energy in symbolic expression, often in environments where survival was precarious. The presence of handprints in caves, carved figurines, and ritualistic objects indicates that art was entwined with spiritual, social, and emotional aspects of early human communities. These artifacts demonstrate that the impulse to create art predates organized religion, written language, and even agriculture. In modern contexts, art has diversified into countless forms—painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, film, and digital media—yet the motivations remain strikingly similar: art provides emotional release, fosters communal identity, and engages the neurological systems that govern reward and pleasure.

Hastedt and James, C. (2016) looked at whether or not drawing is capable of improving mood, and specifically what type of drawing in their article [2]. After experiencing a sad emotion, the participants draw over a period of 4 days. Some were told to draw to express their emotion, while others draw to distract themselves through imitation. The results find that surveyed life satisfaction rates were higher in those that drew to imitate, however they both increased. The researchers noted that these results are opposite to those found with expressive writing. This is a simple, easily understandable study that can be used to show the mood benefits of art. Although It does not provide biological reasoning, it can still be used in the argument to set the baseline of drawing having an impact on mood.

2. Critical analysis

By examining Victor Turner’s (1920-1983) work The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (1977) [3], we can examine why people are attracted to art through an anthropological perspective. Victor Turner’s concept of “liminality” can explain the phenomenon of art. Turner defines liminality as being “betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremonial.” One ritual in our modern society that demonstrates a liminality can be found in college campuses. College fraternities often hold hazing rituals where potential members participate in humiliating and even dangerous activities. Some hazing practices force members to commit acts that would be considered unthinkable were it not for the excuse of member initiation. On page 106, Turner provides a list of social constructs that change during liminality. Some of these social distinctions can be found during hazing rituals, such as: “nakedness”, “absence of status”, “no distinctions of wealth”, and “transition.” One argument that Greek life members use to justify their dangerous hazing rituals is that it builds a strong bond. This aligns with Victor Turner’s idea of “communitas.” Bonds between fraternity members seem to reflect a sense of communitas, as many alumni members speak fondly of their experience. Alumni also commonly donate to their college fraternities, which shows that they developed a significant bond. Art can serve as a tool to invoke liminality and communitas in a similar way to hazing. Art provides a shared interest for people from diverse backgrounds to find common ground. Discussion and participation in art break away from boundaries of normal society. Perhaps this is why people during teenage years are so drawn to different art forms. Many people recall a period in their teenage years where they were fans of certain musical artists. Questioning the boundaries and social norms of society, they turn to the liminal space that art provides. In this way, the music serves as a transitional period in one’s life. Turner’s framework also helps us understand why art often emerges most powerfully in transitional moments of life. Weddings, funerals, graduations, and revolutions all employ artistic elements—songs, symbols, costumes, or performances—to underscore the passage from one state of being to another. In these contexts, art functions not merely as decoration but as a catalyst for transformation. For example, national anthems and revolutionary music generate a sense of collective identity that binds strangers together in moments of uncertainty. Similarly, protest art and street murals provide visual cues of solidarity, marking liminal spaces where traditional authority is questioned and alternative futures are imagined. Art, therefore, is not an isolated activity but a medium through which societies navigate ambiguity and reimagine their values.

Art can also be seen from a biological level as opposed to subconscious. A study by Blood and Zatorre (2001) looked at brain activity in musicians while they listened to intensely pleasurable music [4]. Specifically, the researchers looked for the euphoric chills that certain songs would elicit from the participants. The tomography shows that the intensity of the chill would affect brain regions related to survival stimuli such as pleasure, arousal, and emotion. These brain regions are also activated by food, sex, and recreational drugs. Music seems to have taken advantage of certain neurological mechanisms in the amygdala to induce pleasure. It fulfills certain needs that the brain was evolved to crave. This study examines the brain’s responses to music using emission tomography. The researchers specifically looked for the euphoric chills that certain songs would elicit from the participants. This could be useful when examining art’s intertwining with human brain function. It demonstrates how art exploits the brain’s wiring to induce pleasure. It gives a biological explanation for our seemingly mystical connection to music. The biological explanation of art’s impact highlights how evolution may have inadvertently shaped humans to be receptive to aesthetic experiences. Beyond Blood and Zatorre’s (2001) research on musical chills, additional studies suggest that rhythmic patterns in music align with heartbeat and respiratory cycles, which may explain why drumming and chanting are integral to rituals worldwide. Similarly, the appreciation of visual symmetry and color may have roots in evolutionary adaptations: symmetry often signals genetic fitness in potential mates, while bright colors could indicate edible, nutritious food sources. By co-opting these preexisting neural pathways, art manages to produce pleasure and meaning without directly contributing to survival. This paradox underscores art’s unique role—it both hijacks evolutionary mechanisms and enriches human life beyond biological necessity.

Certain forms of art have the ability to influence how we interact with each other. Bal and Veltkamp test if reading fiction affects a participant’s ability to empathize with others [5]. It is assumed that fiction trains the reader’s social skills because it simulates social experiences. The results of the experiment show that people who were emotionally transported into the fiction story showed more empathy over the course of a week. Lack of emotional transportation resulted in lowered levels of empathy. This seems to suggest that fictional stories indeed have an impact on empathy. The fictional stories were able to give the reader insight into the perspective of others. Art can subconsciously train the viewer and change the way they think about the external world. This article is a great example of one of the many ways in which art shapes our perspective and, in turn, our actions. The psychological and social functions of art extend into everyday experiences of identity formation and moral development. Fictional narratives, for instance, allow readers to inhabit lives unlike their own, rehearsing complex moral dilemmas in a safe imaginative space. Films and theater performances create shared emotional journeys that can reduce prejudice by humanizing unfamiliar groups. Neuroscientific research on mirror neurons suggests that observing artistic performance, such as dance or acting, may activate the same neural pathways as performing the actions ourselves, thus deepening our empathic connection. In this way, art is not only a reflection of society but also a training ground for the social imagination, shaping how humans perceive and interact with one another.

3. Conclusion

In conclusion, the creation and appreciation of art cannot be reduced to mere ornamentation or cultural habit—it is deeply rooted in the very structure of human psychology and biology. From an anthropological perspective, art provides a liminal space where individuals step outside of social norms and encounter a sense of communitas, much like the bonding produced in ritualistic practices. At the same time, neuroscience reveals that art activates primal pleasure centers in the brain, hijacking evolutionary mechanisms designed for survival. Furthermore, the capacity of art—whether through drawing, music, or literature—to alter mood, foster empathy, and shape social understanding highlights its indispensable role in human development. Ultimately, art persists because it addresses fundamental human needs: the desire for connection, the search for meaning, and the pursuit of pleasure. This synthesis of biology, psychology, and anthropology underscores why art is not merely an accessory to human life, but a central, defining element of it.

Acknowledgement

The author sincerely thanks Dr. Vivien Jiaqian Zhu, from the University of California, Berkeley and visiting scholar at Stanford University, for her invaluable guidance and generous support in the completion of this paper. The author also thanks the editors and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and constructive feedback.