Psychological responses to buildings and natural landscapes

Abstract

People frequently form aesthetic judgements of built and natural environments. Identifying psychological responses induced by one's surroundings – as well as differences across contexts – is necessary to better access salubrious qualities of different natural and built environments. Here, we tested two primary hypotheses about responses to exterior architecture and natural landscapes. First, aesthetic responses to built and natural environments reduce to a few underlying psychological dimensions. Second, we hypothesized greater consistency in aesthetic appraisals to natural than built environments. Using techniques from network science, we found that responses to images of exterior architecture and natural landscapes were derived from three psychological dimensions: Fascination (a scene's richness and interest), Coherence (analytic judgements about a scene's organization and construction), and Hominess (feelings of warmth or coziness). Notably, however, subsequent exploratory analyses indicated some differences in psychological responses across contexts. For example, Hominess was associated with greater naturalness for the built environments, but homier natural landscapes were more ordered. We also found less variability in responses to natural landscapes, consistent with our second hypothesis. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that Fascination, Coherence, and Hominess are broadly applicable aesthetic experiences induced by one's surrounding environment. Moreover, human beings may show more agreement for natural stimuli than for artifacts of human culture.