The author has studied how basic concepts such as “I,” “another person,” “good,” “bad,” “passive,” “active,” “strong,” and “weak” are represented visually. In this experiment, subjects were asked to draw these concepts in monochrome abstract shapes. The results were analyzed according to parameters regarding color, form and placing of the shape. A formal “Identikit” was thus deduced for each of the concepts and, further, some basic tools for the interpretation of non-mimetic shapes were given.
McMurrayG. A., A Study of the “Fittingness” of Signs to Words by Means of the Semantic Differential, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56, pp. 310–312, 1958.
4.
ArnheimR., The Gestalt Theory of Expression, Psychological Review, 56, pp. 156–171, 1949.
5.
KarwoskiT. F.OdbertH. S. and OsgoodC. E., Studies in Synesthetic Thinking. II: The Role of Form in Visual Responses to Music, Journal of General Psychology, 26, pp. 199–222, 1942.
6.
OsgoodC. E.SuciG. J. and TannenbaumP. H., The Meaurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1957.
7.
AttneaveF. and ArnoultM. D., The Quantitative Study of Shape and Pattern Perception, Psychological Bulletin, 53, pp. 452–471, 1956.
8.
OsgoodC. E., The Cross-Cultural Generality of Visual-Verbal Synesthetic Tendencies, Behavioral Science, 5, pp. 146–169, 1960.
9.
HevnerK., Experimental Studies of the Affective Value of Colors and Lines, Journal of Applied Psychology, 19, pp. 385–398, 1935.
10.
LundholmH., The Affective Tone of Lines: Experimental Researches, Psychological Review, 23, pp. 43–60, 1921.
11.
PoffenbergerA. T. and BarrowsB. E., The Feeling Value of Lines, Journal of Applied Psychology, 7, pp. 187–205, 1924.
12.
KreitlerH. and KreitlerS., Psychology of the Arts, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, p. 112, 1972.
13.
PetersG. A. and MerrifieldP. R., Graphic Representation of Emotional Feelings, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 13, pp. 375–378, 1957.
14.
BerlyneD. E. and PeckhamS., The Semantic Differential and Other Measures of Reaction to Visual Complexity, Canadian Journal of Psychology, pp. 125–135, 1966.
15.
JakobovitsL. A., The Effect of Symbols: Towards the Development of a Cross-Cultural Graphic Differential, International Journal of Symbology, 1, pp. 28–52, 1969.
16.
TuckerW. T., “Experiments in Aesthetic Communication,” unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois, 1955 (quoted in [6]).
17.
KreitlerH. and KreitlerS., Psychology of the Arts, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1972.
18.
GmelinO. F., Come ‘Leggere’ i Disegni dei Bambini, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1978.
