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

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.

Examining the Effects of Political Orientation on Noun Preference: A Replication of Cichocka et al. (2016)

In three studies, Cichocka et al. (2016) report evidence that conservatism (specifically social conservatism) is associated with noun preference, and that this relationship is mediated by needs for structure and order. We conducted a conceptual replication of Study 1 and found that whereas we could replicate the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference, personal need for structure did not mediate this relationship, as PNS was not associated with noun preference. Our observed effect size for the relationship between social conservatism and noun preference is quite similar to those reported in Cichocka et al. (2016). However, at least based on the present replication, the mechanism behind this relationship is unclear.

Suicide Attempts and Personal Need for Structure Among Ex-Offenders

Suicide attempts were examined in relation to sociodemographic (age, gender, ethnicity), psychopathological (prior psychiatric hospitalizations, physical and sexual abuse histories), and cognitive (personal need for structure) variables among a sample of ex-offenders with substance use disorders ( N = 270). Hierarchical logistic regression was conducted to determine whether personal need for structure would significantly predict whether participants reported past suicide attempts beyond sociodemographic and psychopathological predictors. Personal need for structure and prior psychiatric hospitalizations were the only significant predictors, with higher values of these predictors increasing the likelihood of suicide attempts. Findings are consistent with a cognitive model for understanding suicide behavior, suggesting that persons with a high need for cognitive structures operate with persistent and rigid thought processes that contribute to their risk of suicide.