Daphne V.

Wiersema
University of Amsterdam

Individual differences
in aesthetic preferences

lthough the existence of bestseller books, blockbuster movies, successful television

series such as Sex and the City or 24 and artworks which are worth astronomical
amounts of money all suggest that there is much agreement in our aesthetic preferences, daily experience shows that this is often not the case. As an example, I once
recommended the movie Gran Torino, one of my favorites, to a friend. Much to my
surprise my friend did not like it at all and ever since I have been wondering how this is possible.
Such individual differences also come into play when we look at paintings, talk about books and listen to music. Psychologists have long sought to understand such individual differences in aesthetic
preferences. This article aims to give an introduction to their findings and some potential practical
applications of this knowledge. The main focus will be on liking of paintings, although some research
focussing on other domains of art is discussed. But before going into the link between personality
and aesthetic preferences, I will first briefly discuss some predictors of aesthetic activities to answer
the question of what individual characteristics predict if people seek out aesthetic activities, such as
going to a museum, or not.

Nature versus nurture

Irrespective of their preference for specific forms
of art and art styles, people differ in the amount
of art they consume. Some people often go to
museums and theatres, read lots of books or play
musical instruments while others do not or do so
to a lesser degree. In part, these differences are
not related to personality, but rely on factors such
as education and social class. For instance,parents of art consumers tend be of a higher social
class compared to those who consume less art
[1]. Also, having an education in art or music is
associated with more art consumption while
people with a scientific education demonstrate
lower levels of art consumption. This finding
seems to indicate that having prior experience
with art and music (in this case through ones
education) influences the appreciation of art in
general. But what about personality?
Five categories of personality traits
With respect to personality, the strongest predictor of art consumption seems to be openness
to experience. Openness to experience is one of
the big five dimensions that psychologists use
to describe personality [2]. Openness to experience relates to havinga general appreciation for
1 e.g., McManus & Furnham, 2006
2 Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1989, 1992

art and beauty, to intellectual curiosity, being imaginative, having unusual ideas or appreciating
the unconventional. Furthermore, people who
score high in openness to experience are more
adventurous than those who score lower on this
trait. Also, people high in openness tend to be
more creative compared to people low in openness [3]. More relevant to present purposes,
individuals high in openness to experiences are
more active consumers of art compared to low
scoring individuals [4]. Hence, being open to new
and unconventional ideas relates to the appreciation of art. This seems logical, because art is
often new and unconventional itself.

Another big five dimension of personality,
conscientiousness, also relates to art consumption. Conscientious people are those who are
relatively conventional, orderly and self-disciplined. They also have the tendency to behave
in a planned manner instead of a more impulsive
manner and are oriented towards achievement
[5]. Although conscientious people would do a
perfect job in planning and organising a visit to
the theatre, the chances that one would actually find them at the theatre are relatively low.
Indeed, conscientiousness shows a negative re3 George & Zhou, 2001
4 e.g., McManus & Furnham, 2006
5 Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1989, 1992

lationship with art consumption [6]. According

to researchers [7], these lower levels of art consumption found in conscientious people might
be explained by the link between conscientiousness and conservatism. People who are highly
conscientious also tend to have more narrow
and restricted attitudes towards art. Yet again,
it appears that the appreciation and consumption of art requires an open mind. However, this
might well depend on the specific type of art or
art style. For instance, watching an obscure cultmovie requires a different mind-set compared
to watching a Hollywood blockbuster movie.
Art consumption is a broad term that refers to
a variety of activities such as going to modern
art exhibitions or an archaeological museum,
watching a science fiction movie or a romantic comedy, reading thrillers or poetry, seeing
a classical ballet performance versus a modern
dance performance et cetera. Therefore, besides knowledge about the amount of art people
consume, it is interesting to know the content of
their aesthetic activities and how this relates to
consumer personality. This relationship is the focus of the next part of this article.
Art and familiarity
The bulk of research on aesthetic preferences
and personality has focussed on preferences
for specific styles of painting, such as abstract
versus representational paintings or representational versus surrealistic paintings. Remarkably, representational or figurative paintings,
i.e. paintings that portray objects that are easily
recognisable, are generally liked best [8]. Most
likely, this is caused by the greater familiarity individuals experience with respect to representational paintings [9]. This greater familiarityenhanced liking effect is a well-known effect in
psychology [10].

The liking of representational paintings is
largely unaffected by individual differences.[11].
6 McManus & Furnham, 2006; Chamorro-Premuzic,
Reimers, Hsu, & Ahmegotlu, 2009

7 McManus & Furnham, 2006

8 e.g., Feist & Brady, 2004; Furnham & Walker, 2001

9 Furnham & Walker, 2001
10 see for instance the literature on the mere exposure
effect, e.g., Zajonc, 1968, 1980
11 e.g., Mastandrea, Bartoli, & Bove, 2009; Rawlings,
Vidal, & Furnham, 2000; Wiersema, Van der Schalk, &

Conservative individuals seem to be an exception to this, because they expressed enhanced

liking for representational paintings relative to
abstract paintings, Japanese paintings and popart paintings [12]. The category of representational paintings is often used in research as a default against which liking for another category of
painting such as abstract painting is contrasted
[13].

When we take a look at other styles of paintings,

openness to experience is again an important
predictor of aesthetic preferences. For instance,
openness to experience is associated with liing for representative, abstract and pop-art
paintings,[14] but also with liking for Japanese
art, Renaissance art and cubism [15]. Besides
openness to experience, another important predictor of aesthetic preferences can be found in
the personality dimension of sensation seeking
Van Kleef, 2010
12 Furnham & Walker, 2001
13 e.g., Wiersema, Van der Schalk, & Van Kleef, 2010
14 Furnham & Walker, 2001
15 Chamorro-Premuzic, Reimers, Hsu, & Ahmetoglu,
2009

[16]. Sensation seekers are individuals who seek

out novel, complex and intense experiences. Furthermore, sensation seekers tend to rely more
on their feelings than on their thoughts. Just like
individuals scoring high on openness to experience, sensation seekers like abstract paintings
better than more traditional, representational
paintings [17]. Furthermore sensation seekers
expressed relatively more liking for surreal paint-

ings, while expressing somewhat less liking for

representational paintings [18].

Personality traits are also linked to different motives for visiting specific museums and to
different experiences during their visit. Mastandrea, Bartoli and Bove (2009) provided evidence
for these relations by having visitors of two different museums in Rome fill out a personality
questionnaire and list their reasons for visiting
this particular museum. One museum, The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Ar,t
16 Zuckerman, 1979
17 Furnham & Bunyan, 1988; Rawlings, BarrantesVidal, & Furnham, 2000
18 Furnham & Avison, 1997

was concerned with modern and contemporary

art and the other, The Braschi Museum, exhibited paintings connected with the ancient history
and Middle Ages in Rome. As expected, the two
groups of visitors differed in a number of ways.
First of all, not surprisingly, visitors of the modern art museum had more of a liking for modern
and contemporary art compared to the visitors
of the ancient art museum, although both groups
equally liked representational art. When we look
at their motives for visiting the museums, it becomes more interesting. Visitors of the modern
art museum listed as their two most important
motives the desire to see the original artwork and
the pleasure felt during their visit. Visitors of the
ancient art museum listed their interest for the
artist(s) and their desire for cultural enrichment
as their most important reasons. Although both
groups expressed an interest in the artwork and
artists, visitors of the modern art museum also
sought the positive experience of pleasure related to feeling and sensing. This motive fits with
the personality of the sensation seeker. In fact,
modern art visitors scored higher on the sensation seeking questionnaire compared to the ancient art visitors. Thus, preference for different
styles of art is also associated with the seeking of
different experiences during the aesthetic activity.
Closure and structure
The research discussed so far has found evidence
that particularly openness to experience and sensation seeking are related to aesthetic preferences for certain styles of paintings. Other big five
traits such as extraversion and neuroticism (i.e.,
emotional stability) appear mostly unrelated to
aesthetic preferences. However, besides the big
five personality traits other personality traits
have also been explored. Two traits that play an
important role in more recent research on aesthetic preferences are need for closure and need
for structure. The construct of need for closure
was developed by Kruglanski, Webster and Klem
(1993) and refers to an individuals need for an
environment that is clear, defined, structured
and unambiguous compared to an environment
that lacks these properties. The need for closure
scale consists of five subscales: Preference for
order, preference for predictability, decisiveness,

discomfort with ambiguity, and closed-minded- need for structure also influence liking for styles
ness [19]. The construct of need for closure is of painting. More specifically, individuals with
strongly related to need for structure [20] : Both a high need for situations and environments
that provide clarity
and lack ambiguities
causes them to dislike abstract paintings i.e., paintings
that avoid a clear
correspondence between reality for
which it is more difficult to extract their
meaning [21]. For
instance, the famous
work Victory Boogie Woogie by Piet
Mondriaan
(18721942) consists of a
series of blue, yellow,
red, black and white
squares and upon
viewing this painting, its meaning is
not instantly clear. In
this respect abstract
art is the opposite of
representational or
figurative art which
depicts matters that
are easily recognisable to the observer.
For instance, a stilllife painting contains
objects that are easily identifiable such
as food or flowers.
Interestingly, these
kinds of effects of
need for closure
and need for structure also translate to
other aesthetic dohigh need for closure and high need for structure mains. For instance, visitors of the Amsterdam
individuals desire quick answers and are averse marionette theatre expressed less liking for the
to ambiguities.
open ending of a play if they were high in need

These properties of need for closure and for closure [22]. Also, when they had to judge dif-

10

19 Webster & Kruglanski, 1994

20 hompson, Naccarato, & Parker, 1989; Neuberg &
Newsom, 1993

21 e.g., Landau, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszcynski, &

Martens, 2006
22 Wiersema, Van der Schalk, & Van Kleef, 2010

ferent types of gardens, individuals high

in need for structure rated wild gardens
as less beautiful, and manicured gardens
as more beautiful compared to low need
for structure individuals and were more
likely to possess a garden that was either
manicured or romantic instead of wild
[23]. Future research is needed to investigate if these needs also affect preferences for music, dance, and literature.
But what is evident so far, is that works
of art that lack meaning or structure are
disliked by individuals that have a strong
need for meaning and answers. This connection between art and meaning has
proven to be an important step for understanding our evaluation of art. In the
next part, this connection is discussed
more thoroughly.
A need for meaning
Two different psychological theories
have claimed that people have an innate
need for meaning. In one of these theories, Terror Management Theory, meaning is conveyed by our cultural worldview that consists of norms and values,
traditions and rituals that we deem important.
Furthermore, investments in this cultural worldview are seen as means to cope with our fear of
dying since adherence to the cultural worldview
means that we are a part of a larger whole that
will live on after our death and hence ensures us
of a symbolic immortality. Furthermore, we can
also contribute to this cultural worldview by the
production of works that will literally outlive us,
such as books, paintings, movies et cetera. Investing in art can thus also serve the function of
coping with the fear of dying.

Work on Terror Management Theory [24]
has shown that when people are reminded of
their own mortality, they react with enhanced
defensiveness of their cultural worldview. For instance, Christian participants reacted more positively to an in-group member (Christian) while
reacting more negatively to an out-group member (Jew) after their mortality was made salient

[25]. Based upon this, one would also expect individuals whose mortality was made salient, to
be more appreciative to works of art since, or as
long as, they are part of their cultural worldview.
In fact, participants that were reminded of their
mortality expressed less liking for modern, abstract art [26].

In this experiment half of the participants
(the experimental group) were asked to briefly describe the emotions they felt when they thought
of their own death and were asked to write down
what they thought will happened to them when
they were physically dead. The other half of the
participants (the control group) answered the
same open-ended questions but then pertaining to an upcoming exam. After a brief filler task,
both groups rated abstract, modern paintings.
Participants in the experimental group showed
less liking for abstract paintings compared to participants in the control group. But why was this
the case? According to the researchers, this ef-

23 Van den Berg & Van Winsum-Westra, 2010

24 Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986

25 Greenberg et al., 1990, Study 1

26 Landau, Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszcynski, & Martens,
2006

11

fect is brought about because the mortality

reminder triggered a need for meaning in
participants which in turn caused them to
dislike objects that apparently lack meaning i.e., the abstract paintings. As a further
corroboration of this idea, they went on to
show that this effect is restricted to those
individuals who have an intrinsic need for
structure [27]. Furthermore, when the abstract paintings were accompanied with titles that imbued them with meaning, death
reminders did not lead to lower liking for
abstract paintings [28]. To conclude, the lack
of immediate meaning of abstract paintings
poses a challenge to those individuals who
have an intrinsic need for meaning and clarity resulting in less liking for these kinds of
paintings, especially when need for meaning is temporarily enhanced by a mortality
salience induction.

Proulx and colleagues (2010) showed
that it also works the other way around.
When individuals are confronted with paintings or stories that lack immediate meaning
or that challenge their sense of meaning,
this leads to an enhanced need for meaning
and efforts to restore a sense of meaning. In
one example they had participants read either a story that violated their expectations
or a story that did not violate expectations.
The story that violated their expectations
and hence challenged their sense of meaning, was a parable written by Kafka. Usually,
parables are stories that contain a lesson
via an analogy. Many folktales are parables.
However, the parable participants read did
not contain a lesson at all, although the author is playing with their belief that it will.
After participants read this story, they filled
in a short questionnaire that allowed them to reaffirm their sense of meaning in a different domain. In this questionnaire they rated the importance of their birth country, nationality, and first
language to their identity. Participants, who read
the absurd parable, gave higher ratings to these
questions compared to the group of participants
whose sense of meaning was not violated which
can be seen as an effort to restore their sense of

12

27 Study 2
28 Landau et al., 2006, Study 3

meaning.

This research is based upon the Meaning
Maintenance Model [29]. This model states that
people have an inherent need for meaning. Violations of our sense of meaning are expected to
lead to compensatory efforts to restore meaning
triggered by a temporarily heightened need for
meaning. Indeed, in a different experiment the
researchers showed that meaning threats lead to
a heightened need for meaning. In this experiment, participants saw either surreal, abstract or
29 Heine, Prouxl, & Vohs, 2006

representational paintings. The surreal paintings

were included because - like abstract paintings surreal paintings show less convergence with reality compared to representational paintings. But
surreal paintings also contain unusual and strange
imagery and elements that violate expectations
and challenge our sense of meaning. An example
is the famous painting The persistence of memory (1931) by Salvador Dali (1904-1989) which
portrays a clock (familiar element) that is melting
(unfamiliar). According to the theory, particularly surreal paintings should lead to a heightened

need for meaning. Accordingly,

participants who
looked at surreal
paintings reported
higher levels of
need for structure
compared to individuals who saw
abstract or representational paintings. Not only do
personality
and
intrinsic needs and
motives affect aesthetic preferences, the properties
of the artworks
themselves
can
also temporarily
affect our personal
needs and desires.
Evidence
for these flexible
properties of personality is also
found in the work
of Wiersema et
al (2010). Participants who rated
abstract paintings
under a time constraint known to
enhance need for
closure [30] - expressed less liking
for these paintings compared to
those who rated
the paintings at their own pace. Need for closure
is also heightened by environmental noise [31],
mental fatigue [32] and experiencing high (social) power [33].

30 e.g., De Grada, Kruglanski, Mannetti, & Pierro, 1999;

Van Kleef et al., 2004
31 Kruglanski & Webster, 1991
32 Webster, Richter, & Kruglanski, 1996
33 Fiske, 1993; Van Kleef, De Dreu, Pietroni, &
Manstead, 2006

13

14

Conclusion
To summarize, our personality not only predicts the amount of art we consume, but also
the types of art we prefer. Both
openness to experience and sensation seeking are important for
understanding these preferences, but more recent research has
demonstrated that the need for
closure and need for structure
also predict our preferences. The
gist is that in order to appreciate
works of art that lack clear structure, are novel, perhaps highly
ambiguous or even absurd, one
needs to have an open mind.
The degree to which our mind
is open or closed, could also depend on the situation. When we
are tired, in a hurry, or when we
are in a noisy environment, our
mind closes up and we will prefer more simple, clear-cut and
predictable artwork. The research presented in
this article focused mainly on liking for different
styles of paintings and it is not clear if these findings are applicable to other domains of art. Some
of the research discussed that did focus on other
domains of art seems to suggests that it can, but
future research is needed to confirm this.

Taken together, the findings discussed in
this article point to several interesting practical
applications. For instance, people that struggle
with artwork that does not immediately satisfy
their need for meaning and clarity, can be aided
by having easy access to background information
about the artist and the artworks that help them
understand the artworks. Many museums already use this strategy by providing audio guides
or by thematically arranging the artworks. Furthermore, to enhance liking for plays and dance
performances whose story lines and plots are
not easily understood, visitors could be provided
with booklets containing an explanation. Another option is to give visitors the possibility to attend a short introduction.

The findings discussed in this article could
also suggest that people can be aided in choosing things likebooks to read, music to listen to,
or movies to see based upon their scores on a

personality test. Several web stores such as the

I Tunes music store or the Dutch bol.com bookstore, already use a strategy that resembles this.

For instance, when you select a specific book,

you get to see what the other buyers of this
bookalso bought. However, the strategy could be
more refined when the personality of these other buyers matches with the target person. Furthermore, peoples preferences for specific types
of books and movies could differ depending on
the situation. A person that is tired is expected
to be relatively more appreciative of a book or
movie that is unambiguous and predictable.
This is probably not the best moment to read a
book such as Kafka on the shore (original title:
Umibe no Kafuka) by Haruki Murakami (January
12th, 1949) containing talking cats and other
weird elements.
Note that the ideas suggested above are at this
point mainly speculative and need to be confirmed by future research. However, it is clear
that research on personality and the needs and
motives triggered by our environment could provide interesting suggestions and ideas to those
who are concerned with areas such as the marketing of artworks or the programming of exhibitions in museums.

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Daphne V. Wiersema received her PhD in psychology from the University of

Amsterdam in 2009 with the thesis Self-esteem and the protection of selfrelated attitudes. She worked as an assistant professor at the UvA on a project
which explored the influence of self image in peoples choices and how these
choices are affected by external factors like advertisements. She is currently
self employed as a pilates instructor and founder of Self Service Coaching.

16