Sex Differences in Aesthetic Preferences

Johnson, O. E.; Knapp, Robert H.

doi:10.1080/00224545.1963.9919486

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Vartanian and Goel (2004) included 10 women and 2 men, Kawabata and Zeki (2004) included 5 men and 5 women, while Cela-Conde et al (2004) included 8 women. This seems to be a relevant issue, in the light of studies that have found gender differences in aesthetic preference (Bernard, 1972;Burges Cruz, 2000;Eysenck and Castle, 1971;Furnham and Walker, 2001;Johnson and Knapp, 1963;Neperud, 1986;Polzella, 2000), and the increasing evidence of sex differences in the neural correlates of several cognitive (Bell et al, 2006;Boghi et al, 2006;Georgopoulos et al, 2001;Haier et al, 2006) and affective tasks (Azim et al, 2005;Kemp et al, 2004;Mackiewicz et al, 2006;Piefke et al, 2005;Tranel et al, 2005). Thus, it is not known how confounding it is to jointly analyze men and women's results, or how limiting it is to only include participants from one of the sexes.…”

Section: Summary Of the Neuroimaging Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, Vartanian and Goel (2004) presented participants with two altered versions of each picture, in addition to the original form. There is an extensive literature showing differences in the aesthetic preference for visual stimuli according to their degree of abstraction, artistic qualities, and modification (Bernard, 1972;Cela-Conde et al, 2002;Furnham and Walker, 2001;van Wieringen, 1996a, 1996b;Johnson and Knapp, 1963;Lindauer, 1990;Neperud, 1986;Winston and Cupchik, 1992). It is possible that these behavioural differences may have an expression at the neural level, as suggested by Kettlewell and Lipscomb's (1992) neuropsychological study, though at present we can only assume that neural networks related with object recognition contribute differently to the aesthetic appreciation of abstract and representational visual stimuli.…”

Section: Summary Of the Neuroimaging Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards a framework for the study of the neural correlates of aesthetic preference

et al. 2008

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Aiming to provide a tentative framework for the study of the neural correlates of aesthetic preference, we review three recent neuroimaging studies carried out with the purpose of locating brain activity associated with decisions about the beauty of visual stimuli (Cela-Conde et al., 2004; Kawabata and Zeki, 2004; Vartanian and Goel, 2004). We find that the results of the three studies are not in line with previous neuropsychological data. Moreover, there are no coincidences among their results. However, when they are mapped on to Chatterjee's (2003) neuropsychological model of aesthetic preference it becomes clear that neuroimaging data are not contradictory, but complementary, and their interpretation is enriched. The results of these studies suggest that affective processes have an important role in aesthetic preference, and that they are integrated with cognitive processes to reach a decision regarding the beauty of visual stimuli. Future studies must aim to clarify whether certain methodological procedures are better suited to study any of the particular cognitive operations involved in aesthetic preference, and ascertain the extent to which the proposed framework is compatible with the aesthetic appreciation of musical stimuli.

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Section: Summary Of the Neuroimaging Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Summary Of the Neuroimaging Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a framework for the study of the neural correlates of aesthetic preference

et al. 2008

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“…It is possible that there are sex differences in preference for specific symmetries in relation to human judgments of visual art and abstract patterns (see Bernard, 1972;Humphrey, 1997;Johnson & Knapp, 1963). It is also possible that male and female aesthetic judgments for symmetry are based on a difference in perceived complexity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-cultural comparison for preference for symmetry: Comparing British and Egyptians non-experts

2017

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The aesthetic appeal of symmetry has been noted and discussed by artists, historians and scientists. To what extent this appeal is universal is a difficult question to answer. From a theoretical perspective, cross-cultural comparisons are important, because similarities would support the universality of the response to symmetry. Some pioneering work has focussed on comparisons between Britain and Egypt (Soueif & Eysenck, 1971, 1972), including both experts and naive subjects. These studies confirmed some degree of universal agreement in preferences for simple abstract symmetry. We revisited this comparison after almost half a century. We compared preferences of naïve students in Egypt (n = 200) and Britain (n= 200) for 6 different classes of symmetry in novel, abstract stimuli. We used three different measurements of complexity: Gif ratio, Edge length and the average cell size (average blob size, ABS). The results support Soueif & Eysenck's findings regarding preferences for reflectional and rotational symmetry, however they also throw new light on a greater preference for simplicity in Egyptian participants already noted by Soueif & Eysenck (1971).

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“…Sex is another factor that influences children's visual preferences. For example, girls favor more personal and intimate motives and they prefer sensually softer or less expressive color (Johnson & Knapp, 1963). Jakobsdotirr, Krey, and Sales (1994) concluded that girls like paintings that are peaceful and full of colors, or paintings that represent female characters, plants, or animals; boys prefer paintings that represent vehicles, danger, male characters, and action.…”

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confidence: 97%