On the universality of aesthetic preference and inference : a cross-cultural (Chinese–German) study

Abstract

Aesthetic preferences vary widely among individuals and across cultures. These culture-specific aesthetic preferences are reflected in the environment, artistic behaviour, and consumer choices. People have the ability to infer the aesthetic preferences of others within their own culture through their Theory of Aesthetic Preferences, which is a subcategory of the Theory of Mind. An important question is whether people can also infer aesthetic preferences across different cultures. This study aimed to investigate aesthetic preference and aesthetic inference, as well as the underlying mental processes of beauty judgements such as affective and cognitive responses, by comparing ratings on beauty, affective, and cognitive dimensions from participants in China (n = 84) and Germany (n = 82). The results suggest that aesthetic preferences are more dependent on the stimuli than on the culture. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that beauty judgements, as well as intra- and inter-cultural beauty inferences, are generally associated with positive emotions, while the relationship between beauty judgement and cognitive stimulation seems to be culture-specific. Overall, our findings provide evidence for a universal human beauty response mechanism that is linked to positive emotions and support the idea of a universal Theory of Aesthetic Preferences. This theory enables people to infer the aesthetic preferences of others both within and across different cultures.