scholarly journals A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Aesthetic Preferences for Neatly Organized Compositions: Native Chinese- vs. Native Dutch-Speaking Samples

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline Van Geert ◽  
Rong Ding ◽  
Johan Wagemans

Do aesthetic preferences for images of neatly organized compositions (e.g., images collected on blogs like Things Organized Neatly©) generalize across cultures? In an earlier study (Van Geert & Wagemans, 2019), focusing on stimulus and person properties related to order and complexity, Dutch-speaking participants (N = 421) indicated their preference for one of two simultaneously presented images (100 pairs) and completed questionnaires such as the Big Five Inventory and the Personal Need for Structure scale. Preferences related to differences in order, soothingness, and fascination ratings between the images in a pair. In the current study, we compared the data of the native Dutch-speaking participants from this earlier sample (N = 356) to newly collected data from a native Chinese-speaking sample (N = 220). Overall, aesthetic preferences were quite similar across cultures, and preferences related to differences in soothingness and order between the images in a pair for both Chinese-speaking and Dutch-speaking participants. However, some interesting differences were found as well. Chinese-speaking participants showed an additional preference for simplicity, and Dutch-speaking participants for fascination. As fascination ratings of the images related positively with measures of order and complexity, whereas soothingness ratings related positively with order and negatively with complexity (Van Geert & Wagemans, 2019), these results hint at a cross-culturally consistent relationship between order and aesthetic appreciation, but a cross-culturally diverse link between complexity and appreciation.

1979 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 859-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Iwawaki ◽  
H. J. Eysenck ◽  
K. O. Götz

A comparison was made of the scores of 171 Japanese boys and 156 Japanese girls, and of 204 English boys and 165 English girls, on the Visual Aesthetic Sensitivity Test. Also compared were 145 male and 163 female Japanese students, with 38 male and 73 female English students. Japanese children had scores significantly higher than English children, while Japanese students had scores significantly lower than English students. There was little evidence of age increments in score for either group of children. Difficulty levels of the 42 item-pairs were very similar in the two cultures, as were internal (split-half) reliabilities. It is concluded that cultural differences between the two countries, as far as visual aesthetic appreciation is concerned, seem at best minimal.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 160-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Senokozlieva ◽  
Oliver Fischer ◽  
Gary Bente ◽  
Nicole Krämer

Abstract. TV news are essentially cultural phenomena. Previous research suggests that the often-overlooked formal and implicit characteristics of newscasts may be systematically related to culture-specific characteristics. Investigating these characteristics by means of a frame-by-frame content analysis is identified as a particularly promising methodological approach. To examine the relationship between culture and selected formal characteristics of newscasts, we present an explorative study that compares material from the USA, the Arab world, and Germany. Results indicate that there are many significant differences, some of which are in line with expectations derived from cultural specifics. Specifically, we argue that the number of persons presented as well as the context in which they are presented can be interpreted as indicators of Individualism/Collectivism. The conclusions underline the validity of the chosen methodological approach, but also demonstrate the need for more comprehensive and theory-driven category schemes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 568-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haram J. Kim ◽  
Shin Ye Kim ◽  
Ryan D. Duffy ◽  
Nguyen P. Nguyen ◽  
Danni Wang

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuko Takeuchi ◽  
Caroline Davis ◽  
Donald R. McCreary

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