How Visitors Relate to Museum Experiences: An Analysis of Positive and Negative Reactions

Abstract

There is growing interest in the nature of the museum experience among researchers in the fields of art and museum education.1 The museum experience is broadly defined by John Falk and Lynn Dierking as all that transpires between the person's first thought of visiting a museum, through the actual visit, and then beyond, when the museum experience remains only in memory.2 Additionally, they propose that this experience varies from individual to individual and, in fact, is dependent upon the interaction between the personal context (the visitor's life experiences, interests, and expectations), the social context (whether the individual visits the museum alone, with friends or family, or as part of a large group), and the physical context (the architecture, atmosphere, and objects on display within the museum). Falk and Dierking explain: Each visitor's experience is different, because each brings his own personal and social contexts, because each is differently affected by the physical context, and because each makes choices as to which aspects of that context to focus on.3 They believe that museum educators must understand the museum experience from the perspective of the visitor and have conducted numerous studies in which each of these contexts are controlled in order to determine significance. The two researchers are also engaged in studies of long-term recall of museum experiences in an effort to discover those aspects of a museum experience that are remembered over time.

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