Question 24- Discuss Absolute And Relative Judgements Of Liking In Experimental Aesthetics

Question 1

Absolute judgements

Answer 1

-Judgements formed when having to compare a stimulus in front of you to a stimulus in your head
•E.g. comparing a painting in front of you to one in your memory, looking at the features and saying which one you prefer

-One factor is that people hold in memory any prototypical standard of attractiveness

Question 2

Relative judgements

Answer 2

-Formed when having to compare one stimulus in front of you with another stimulus in front of you
•E.g. comparing 2 paintings side by side and deciding which one you prefer more

-Both absolute and relative judgements are required

Question 3

Bar and Neta (2006)

Answer 3

-Study requiring relative judgement

-PPs had to compare 2 objects side by side and decide which one they preferred
•Results:
~PPs preferred curved objects

Question 4

McManus (1980)

Answer 4

• Study requiring relative judgements using pairwise comparisons
• PPs preferred rectangles of different height-to-width ratios when rectangles were presented simultaneously

Question 5

Relative judgements advantages

Answer 5

-Allows for researchers to test for significant differences within PPs
•Saves on amount of PPs needed

-Being able to look at how aesthetic preferences differ individually

Question 6

Kirk (2008)

Answer 6

• Tested using absolute judgements
• Investigated neural correlates of viewing objects in normal and abnormal contexts by showing 120 images once each and seeing whether the PPs thought they were appealing or not

-Results:
•Normal pictures were rated overall more appealing than abnormal ones
~Suggests PPs thought the more appealing ones were what represented what they were used to

Question 7

Winkielmann et al (2006)

Answer 7

• Required absolute judgements
• Investigated prototypes by showing PPs dot pictures of an object and distortions on it one at a time

-Results:
•PPs preferred the more prototypical images

-Could be because prototypes fitted in with what they were used to
•Suggests absolute judgements are important in liking if they are congruent or similar to what we experience in our everyday lives