Abstract
BackgroundPreference for smooth contours occurs for a variety of visual stimuli. However, there are individual differences. Openness to experience, a trait associated with aesthetic appreciation, emotional sensitivity and abstract thinking, correlates with this preference. The evaluation of meaningless stimuli entails automatic associations influenced by knowledge, intellectual interests and individual experiences which are diverse. However, it is difficult to capture this variability in studies restricted to Undergraduate students in Psychology with a prevalence of female participants.MethodsHere we examined preference for curvature with 160 undergraduate students in Psychology, Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science, balanced for gender. Participants viewed abstract shapes varying for contour (angular vs. curved). The shapes presented variations in Vertices (10, 20, 30) and Concavity (30%, 40%, 50%) to increase complexity. Participants rated how much they liked each shape on a 0 (dislike) to 100 (like) scale. Furthermore, because students in pure Science disciplines present autistic-like traits as measured with the Autism Quotient (AQ), and there is evidence that individuals with autism respond positively to edgy abstract shapes, participants also completed the AQ.ResultsOverall participants preferred curved shapes to angular shapes. We confirmed past research showing that complexity played a key role, with simple shapes with less vertices (10 vertices) being preferred over shapes with larger number of vertices (20 and 30 vertices). Furthermore, simple shapes (10 vertices) were preferred more with more concavities (50%). Importantly, an interaction between academic degree and gender revealed that preference for smooth curvature was stronger for Psychology female participants. Science students scored higher than Psychology students on the AQ. Interestingly, multilevel analyses showed that the variability of AQ traits in the sample did not contribute to this interaction. The results are discussed in relation to theories of preference formation and individual differences.
Highlights
Humans have the tendency to prefer certain formal properties even in the absence of familiarity or meaning
We included Psychology undergraduate students to allow a comparison with previous research and we paired them with undergraduate students in Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science
The interest in individuals studying pure scientific disciplines is due to a body of literature showing differences on personality and cognitive skills as compared to creative individuals and humanities students (Billington, Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2007; Kaufman et al, 2016; Witkin et al, 1977). This is important because openness to experience and holistic abstract thinking positively correlate with preference for curvature (Cotter et al, 2017)
Summary
Humans have the tendency to prefer certain formal properties even in the absence of familiarity or meaning. The curvature effect has been replicated across a range of tasks, including explicit forced choice responses (‘‘like’’/’’no like’’), rating scales (Likert scale or visual attention scales—VAS) and selection procedure where participants chose one of two stimuli presented simultaneously (Gómez-Puerto, Munar & Nadal, 2016) Most of these studies targeted similar populations, such as psychology students, with a prevalence of female participants. The interest in individuals studying pure scientific disciplines is due to a body of literature showing differences on personality (i.e., openness to experience) and cognitive skills (i.e., attention to details and analytic thinking) as compared to creative individuals and humanities students (Billington, Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2007; Kaufman et al, 2016; Witkin et al, 1977) This is important because openness to experience and holistic abstract thinking positively correlate with preference for curvature (Cotter et al, 2017). The results are discussed in relation to theories of preference formation and individual differences
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