Three studies analyzed spatial orientation of portraits (Study 1, N = 359 and Study 2, N = 961) and self-portraits (Study 3, N = 362). Besides replicating a number of previous findings (a general left-ward orientation in portraits but right-ward orientation in self-portraits), we report a number of new results: (1) compared to men, women painters show no gender bias in portraits, and show no rightward orientation in self-portraits; (2) gender differences decline over time and disappear entirely after the 1848 social movements in Europe; and, (3) old and young sitters are portrayed with a stronger leftward orientation than sitters of the intermediate age group (supported only in Study 1). Results are interpreted as supporting Chatterjee's (2002) agency hypothesis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonS. J., & JohnsonJ. T. (2003). The who and when of “gender-blind” attitudes: Predictors of gender-role egalitarianism in two different domains. Sex Roles, 49, 527–532.
2.
BakanD. (1966). The duality of human existence.Chicago: Rand McNally.
BenjafieldJ., & SegalowitzS. (1993). Left and right in Leonardo's drawing faces. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 11, 25–32.
5.
BorodJ. C.HaywoodC. S., & KoffE. (1997). Neuropsychological aspects of facial asymmetry during emotional expression: A review of the normal adult literature. Neuropsychology Review, 7, 41–60.
6.
ChatterjeeA. (2002). Portrait profiles and the notion of agency. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 20, 33–41.
7.
ChatterjeeA.MaherL. M., & HeilmanK. M. (1995). Spatial characteristic of thematic role representation. Neuropsychologia, 33(5), 643–648.
ColesP. R. (1974). Profile orientation and social distance in portrait painting. Perception, 3, 303–308.
11.
ConesaJ.Brunold-ConesaC., & MironM. (1995). Incidence of the half-left profile pose in single-subject portraits. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 81, 920–922.
12.
ConwayM.PizzamiglioM. T., & MountL. (1996). Status, communality, and agency: Implications for stereotypes of gender and other groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(1), 25–38.
13.
CostaM.MenzaniM., & BittiP. E. Ricci (2001). Head canting in paintings: An historical study. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25(1), 63–72.
14.
GordonI. (1974). Left and right in Goya's portraits. Nature, 294, 197–198.
15.
GrüsserO. J.SelkeT., & ZyncaB. (1988). Cerebral lateralization and some implications for art, aesthetic perception and artistic creativity. In RentschlerI.HerzbergB., & EpsteinD. (Eds.), Beauty and the brain: Biological aspects of aesthetics (pp. 257–293). Boston: Birkhauser.
16.
HumphreyN. K., & McManusI. C. (1973). Status and the left cheek. New Scientist, 59, 437–439.
17.
LattoR. (1996). Turning the other cheek: Profile direction in self-portraiture. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 14(1), 89–98.
18.
LevyJ. (1976). Lateral dominance and aesthetic preference. Neuropsychologia, 14, 431–455.
19.
MaassA., & RussoA. (2003). Directional bias in the mental representation of spatial events: Nature or culture?Psychological Science, 14(4), 296–300.
20.
MaherL.ChatterjeeA.Gonzales-RothiL., & HeilmanK. (1995). Agrammatic sentence production: The use of a temporal-spatial strategy. Brain and Language, 49, 105–124.
21.
McLaughlinJ. P., & MurphyK. E. (1994). Preference for profile orientation in portraits. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 12, 1–7.
22.
McManusI. C. (1979). Determinants of laterality in men. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University Cambridge.
23.
McManusI. C. (2002). Right hand, left hand: The origins of asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms and cultures. London, UK/Cambridge, MA: Weidenfeld and Nicolson/Harvard University Press.
24.
McManusI. C. (2005). Symmetry and asymmetry in aesthetics and the arts. European Review, 13(2), 157–180.
25.
McManusI., & HumphreyN. (1973). Turning the left cheek. Nature, 243, 271–272.
26.
NelsonT. M., & MacDonaldG. A. (1971). Lateral organization, perceived depth and title preference in pictures. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 33, 983–986.
27.
NichollsM. E. R.ClodeD.WoodS. J., & WoodA. G. (1999). Laterality of expression in portraiture: Putting your best cheek forward. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 266, 1517–1522.
28.
PadakannayaP.DeviM. L.ZaveriaB.ChengappaS. K., & VaidJ. (2002). Directional scanning effect and strength of reading habit in picture naming and recall. Brain and Cognition, 48, 404–490.
29.
PrattoF.SidaniusJ.StallworthL. M., & MalleB. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 741–763.
30.
PrattoF.StallworthL. M., & SidaniusJ. (1997). The gender gap: Differences in political attitudes and social dominance orientation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 49–68.
31.
RussellB. L., & TriggK. Y. (2004). Tolerance of sexual harassment: An examination of gender differences, ambivalent sexism, social dominance, and gender roles. Sex Roles, 50(7-8), 565–573.
32.
SakalliU. N., & BeydoganB. (2002). Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers: The effects of patriarchy, sexism, and gender differences. Journal of Psychology, 136, 647–656.
33.
SchirilloJ. A. (2000). Hemispheric asymmetries and gender influence Rembrandt's portrait orientations. Neuropsychologia, 38, 1593–1606.
34.
SidaniusJ.LevinS.LiuJ., & PrattoF. (2000). Social dominance orientation, anti-egalitarianism and the political psychology of gender: An extension and cross-cultural replication. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 41–67.
35.
SidaniusJ.PrattoF., & BriefD. (1995). Group dominance and the political psychology of gender: A cross-cultural comparison. Political Psychology, 16, 381–396.
36.
SpenceJ. T., & HelmreichR. (1978). Masculinity and femininity: Their psychological dimensions, correlates and antecedents. Austin: University Press.
37.
SpenceJ. T.HelmreichR., & HolahanC. K. (1979). Negative and positive components of psychological masculinity and femininity and their relationship to self-reports of neurotic and acting out behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(10), 1673–1682.
38.
SpenceJ. T.HelmreichR., & StappJ. (1974). The Personal Attributes Questionnaire: A measure of sex role stereotypes and masculinity-femininity. JSAS Catalog of Selected Document in Psychology, 4, 43–44
39.
CateC. ten (2002). Posing as a professor: Laterality in posing orientation for portraits of scientists. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 26(3), 175–192.
40.
VaidJ.SinghM.SakhujaT., & GuptaG. C. (2002). Stroke direction asymmetry in figure drawing: Influence of handedness and reading/writing habits. Brain and Cognition, 48, 597–602. Woodward Portrait Explorer on CD-ROM, National Portrait Gallery, London.
41.
ZaidelD. W., & FitzgeraldP. (1994). Sex of the face in western art: Left and right in portraits. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 12, 9–18.
