The Effect of Verbal Instruction and Artistic Background on the Aesthetic Judgment of Rectangles

Abstract

A review of studies on the judgment of rectangle proportions pointed out that individual differences in preference might be partly due to differences in verbal instructions given to the subjects. In the present experiment two types of instruction were used and their effects on both naive and experienced (art school) subjects were assessed. Following a subjective instruction, emphasizing personal preference, mean ratings of naive subjects revealed a preference peak around the Golden Section, whereas mean ratings of experienced viewers peaked at the square. In the objective condition, involving judgment of the goodness of proportion regardless of personal liking, the mean preferences of both groups clearly tended toward the square. Individual preference functions partly confirmed these mean patterns, but demonstrated large intersubject variability. Moreover, the naive viewers were significantly more consistent in their ratings than the experienced ones.