Experimental approach to the study of beauty: The role of golden proportion

Two experiments evaluated the impact of different deviations from golden proportion on subjective perception of beauty. Black and white adaptations of Mondrian paintings modified to fit golden, 1/6 and 1/2 proportions were used as stimuli. Within each trial, participants were exposed to two versions of the same painting on a computer screen. Participants were given 1500 ms to select the one they considered more beautiful. In experimental trials one of the paintings presented the golden proportion while the other presented either the 1/2 or the 1/6 proportion. The two paintings were identical in control trials. University students without formal training in art showed preference for golden ratio stimuli over 1/6 stimuli, but not over 1/2 stimuli, both, when they were tested in within-subject (Experiment 1) and between-subject (Experiment 2) designs.