Fechner's Experimental Aesthetics and the Golden Section Hypothesis Today

Gustav Theodor Fechner started his “aesthetics from below” with an investigation of the golden section hypothesis because he was fascinated by the fact that a mathematic proportion should directly correspond to pleasingness. Thus, the golden section hypothesis fitted in his psychophysical approach, assuming that there is a correspondence between physical properties of stimuli and the sensations they cause. However, Berlyne believed that even minute variations in instruction or experimental arrangements may cause differences in the proportions preferred 1, p. 300. Different from many investigations in the field the experimental manipulation to be reported here was to give different verbal criteria to our subjects. One of our experiments followed Fechner's method of production—i.e., subjects had to draw rectangles—and the other one was done using the method of choice—i.e., subjects had to sort rectangles. The results show that different criteria lead to different proportions in the material produced and sorted, respectively. Thus, preference judgements seem to be the outcome of a process of information processing by using both sources of information: the physical arrangement of the stimuli and the cognitively represented concept of the subject. However, under both conditions no preference for the golden section was found.