Tonight I am speaking about Laughlab at the Royal Institution in London (details here). There are a handful of tickets left, but be great to see you.
Take a quick look at the following pairs of pictures and, for each pair, choose the picture that most appeals to you….
What does this say about you? More after the break.
Well, this is supposed to be a test of your artistic judgment. An artist drew a nice looking form and then change one aspect of it to make it less appealing. Then the experimenters showed them to six other artists who agreed. In each instance the more appealing one is shown on the left. 95% of people get the top pair ‘right’, 60% the middle pair and 79% of the bottom pair. How did you do? What do you think of the test and your result?
March 31, 2010 at 6:35 am |
Damn, I apparently suck. I got them all “wrong”
March 31, 2010 at 7:46 am
You can’t get aesthetics wrong, aesthetics are subjective.
Good taste is better than Bad taste, but bad taste is better than no taste at all.
March 31, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I strongly disagree. bad taste is worse than no taste at all. I cite the following.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1262397/Mother-took-daughter-Roedean-shed-spent-fees-plastic-surgery.html
March 31, 2010 at 6:35 am |
I choose all 3 times the left one
March 31, 2010 at 6:36 am |
Mhh…The first pair, I pick the right, all the other left.
March 31, 2010 at 7:03 am
Yes – I did the same and would do again. I cannot see how the left one is an improvement on the right in that case, although the other two examples seem fairly straightforward to me.
March 31, 2010 at 7:58 am
Me too.
March 31, 2010 at 8:13 am
Me too. The left on of the top pair is ugly.
March 31, 2010 at 8:57 am
Ditto.
March 31, 2010 at 9:07 am
Me too!
March 31, 2010 at 9:47 am
Me too, too.
March 31, 2010 at 10:02 am
I chose the same! and the first right have rounder curves, which is far more appealing for me
March 31, 2010 at 10:35 am
Me too. It has smoother curves and it’s more symmetric.
March 31, 2010 at 10:40 am
Concur. Top right has nicer symmetry.
March 31, 2010 at 10:42 am
Same! Right for the top one and left for the bottom two. Maybe we just really like curves.
March 31, 2010 at 11:41 am
Count me in
March 31, 2010 at 12:34 pm
One more.
March 31, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Strongly agree.
March 31, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Agreed. R,L,L.
March 31, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Agree. RLL FTW.
March 31, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Same here.
March 31, 2010 at 12:57 pm
ditto!
March 31, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Ditto.
First pair: the curves on the right appear more natural (the left has straight lines that curve at the ends). Second pair: same, but for the left. Third pair: the left is more aesthetically pleasing.
I’m a tech geek trying to develop a long-buried artistic streak which, IF there is a correlation between “artisticness” and such tests, may explain it? Either that or it’s all bunk.
March 31, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Same here.
March 31, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Me also
March 31, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Add another one to this.
March 31, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Ditto i think the one on the right for the first one is more appealing because of its smoother curves. The second one the left one has more clarity as oppose to the “stuck together” chaos. The last one is similar i that the right one is more chaotic while the left one is more balanced and symmetrical.
March 31, 2010 at 5:21 pm
yep same here
March 31, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Same here!
March 31, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I also think the right image is best of the first pair. I think it’s because its more symmetrical. The left is better for the other two.
March 31, 2010 at 9:20 pm
and me!
March 31, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Same for me.
March 31, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Me Too! Maybe it’s the feminine curve
For me it looks like the silhouette of a little black dress
Regardless of this impression it’s the symmetry that let me choose the right one.
March 31, 2010 at 10:12 pm
ditto etc.
Maybe Richard swapped them over himself! 95% agreement on the left one seems very suspicious given this long thread of dissenters! Especially seeing as that number is so much higher than the other two, which are much clearer cut in my opinion.
April 1, 2010 at 1:20 am
Me too! Or “me twenty”, as the case may be.
April 1, 2010 at 8:27 am
I made the same choices.
April 1, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Me too. 2 and 3 are straight forward. The left one of the first choice is less appealing because it looks like a mirror-image of the right one. Strange enough one often can see what was the original.
April 3, 2010 at 10:43 am
i agree completely. me having all my awesome art just tells me i’m right and the artists are wrong!
May 1, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Apparently 95% of people reading this blog do not pick the ‘right’ answer in the top pair. (Me too, RLL.) Is this a particularly skewed subset of the population?
March 31, 2010 at 6:37 am |
Agreed with the top one, disagreed with the second, agreed with the third.
I have no idea why any would be considered objectively better than any others. With 1 I pretty much flipped a coin – they look almost identical. with 2, it’s a squiggle, the right one looked more interesting. With 3, I legitimately preferred the left one.
March 31, 2010 at 6:37 am |
I picked the image on the right every time – they just look nicer and less harsh too me! I normally think of myself as pretty artistic.
March 31, 2010 at 6:47 am |
I consider myself fairly artistic too and have been drawing for fun since forever ago. But I have to say the ones on the right were all just more appealing to me.
March 31, 2010 at 6:50 am |
found myself leftsided. however, the left middle image reminds me of people who are a bit critical, the right a bit shut, so i would have liked best a facial structure in-between the two shown. open and curious is my ideal.
March 31, 2010 at 6:51 am |
Right, left, left.
I’m not very artistic, at least not according to myself.
The first one just looks better on the right side, it might have something to do with me always drawing 3D objects like this:
________
/______/|
| | |
|______|/
March 31, 2010 at 6:53 am |
right, left, left
March 31, 2010 at 7:00 am |
Left, left, right.
In the third case it was obvious that the left one should be more appealing, but the right one just looks funnier to me, a bit like a mixed up kanji.
March 31, 2010 at 7:02 am |
I got them mostly ‘wrong’, but then I write weird music too
March 31, 2010 at 7:04 am |
I’m right, left, left. My problem with the first pair is that sloping down to the right is a “negative”, and sloping up a “positive” – too much time looking at graphs perhaps?
March 31, 2010 at 7:16 am |
For me, I preferred all three on the left, but I suspect that if their positions were reversed, I’d have still preferred all three on the left, since that’s the one I saw first.
April 1, 2010 at 2:31 am
I would have to agree with you. I picked all three on the left, but I feel like it’s because I looked at those first.
March 31, 2010 at 7:16 am |
I had right, left, left, agreeing with a lot of other people here. I wonder if the 95% preferring the left is accurate, or if it says something peculiar about the readers of this blog.
March 31, 2010 at 7:18 am |
Right, right, right.
March 31, 2010 at 7:21 am |
Right, left, left.
(1) Left has inconsistent curves to me, but wasn’t all that displeasing, just less pleasing.
(2) Right is horrific, made me want to scream in anguish. What’s with the jarring bunching up at the top?!? No sense of spacing, of privacy.
(3) Right is completely random, as though someone threw dice. No form, no symmetry, no balance, just pure randomness like someone crapped on the page.
March 31, 2010 at 7:23 am |
damn ! i got all wrong .
why do i like always the wierd stuff?
March 31, 2010 at 7:46 am |
Right, right, left.
March 31, 2010 at 8:00 am |
Right, left, left.
March 31, 2010 at 8:57 am
Exactly!
March 31, 2010 at 8:10 am |
Funny, I got the first one “wrong” (the right one is more rounded and, to me, more pleasing to the eye), but the other two “right”.
March 31, 2010 at 8:34 am |
Why does their have to be a right or wrong?
Its personal taste….nothing wrong with that.
I prefer…. right left right.
March 31, 2010 at 8:39 am |
I don’t believe that the images on the left are aesthetically “correct”, more a case of being more aesthetically accessible. In a similar way, the majority of people prefer a song with a strong melody (such as those performed by the Glee cast), but a significant minority are more drawn to songs with dissonance, such as Nirvana’s In Utero album.
I would consider myself in the latter category, and that would be reflected in my choices, right, left, right.
It’s interesting that a significantly higher number of people chose the left image for the middle pair (the ‘faces’).
March 31, 2010 at 9:43 am
@james until I just read your post I never saw the faces….wow….all I saw were abstract designs then went back and looked and saw the face on the “right” but it took me a few seconds to see the one on the “left” maybe since they were both facing {sorry for the pun} the same way and was looking for them to be facing each other ……how strange……hmmm ….it is said that we tend to look for faces in most everything… here I missed it….thanks for pointing out the “faces”!
March 31, 2010 at 8:41 am |
BA(hons) in fine art and twenty two years working as an artist. Left, left, left.
March 31, 2010 at 8:49 am |
Right left left.
There are graphic design “rules” about avoiding clashing points like the bottom two on the right.
Of the top ones, the one on the right looks rounder and friendlier to me.
March 31, 2010 at 8:57 am |
left, left, left. I am not particularly artistic myself, but I enjoy good art when I see it. Very pleased with being called artistic by this bit of research
March 31, 2010 at 9:15 am |
Very happy with my own since of style and say RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT!
Asymmetrical is wonderfully delightful….. :}
March 31, 2010 at 10:05 am
“Asymmetrical” is defined as NOT being symmetrical per Webster’s English Language Dictionary. That’s why I like it…..the unexpected….daring to be different and lovin’ it all the way!
March 31, 2010 at 9:26 am |
1 – Right. I wonder if this is to do with it being more symmetrical (or, less UNsymmetrical) and links in to our innate preference for symmetry in faces etc?
2 – Left. More open, as noted by previous commenters.
3 – Unsure. The left one is inoffensive but a bit boring, The right one is interesting but a bit disturbing. Plumped for left in the end, but possibly because I’ve got too much other cr*p going on in my life at the moment to have disturbing artwork too!
March 31, 2010 at 9:27 am |
Right, left, left… although the last might be a maybe. I think the appealing factors were:
1. The right form are more rounded, the left is aggressive, full of angles…
2. The left is distinct (and round). The right is entangled.
3. The left is well separated although perhaps too basic. The right had a little more complexity.
I hate to admit but what attracts me in “my” figures is simplicity… perhaps my puzzle solver-self speaking?
I’m not surprised that the left are the original artistic forms… is difficult to perturb a good form and get a “better” one. I think that happened in the first form, but that is my art sense speaking. That a majority of people though the “good” ones to be the right is more surprising… can that enquiry be contaminated? People might like more certain shapes but choose others because they feel to be the artistic ones… to outguess others instead of giving their own answer.
Can you share your opinion on that (after a certain time), Richard?
March 31, 2010 at 9:29 am
Oops, I read wrong… the majority shoot the right form… not the form in the right… Sorry!…
March 31, 2010 at 4:24 pm
@ Joao Pedro Afonso….. looking at each pair which would you say was male and which female ….. left or right? I’m surprised Richard didn’t ask this every question…..especially after reading some of the comments… what do you think?
March 31, 2010 at 6:51 pm
I think you have made a very interesting question. It would have never occurred to me before because the majority appear to have had the very same idea (RLL… when there are 8 possible combinations of responses), but now, that it appears to exist more variety in the answers, it might make sense to consider it. I associate femininity with a certain roundness… maybe it is no coincidence that I choose what I choose.
By the way, the photos in your site are amazing.
April 1, 2010 at 3:13 am
@ Joao Pedro Afonso thank you….do you mean the abstract art photos on my blog roll for my flickr or the ones with my post entries on my blog site? My son {oldest….lol…} as an undergraduate in psych a few years back was published by SEPA for his paper on what makes a person physically attractive and took it in a different path based on economic changes……specifically the Environmental Security Hypothesis. He was following up on the Pettijohn and Tesser General Hard Times Measure. This looked at facial and body shapes and how they were perceived as attractive in times of economic highs and lows……. Here I have noted how some have stressed the more rounded shapes as being more attractive…… I wounder if the economics were in a “high” now as apposed to the “lows” we have been having have had an effect…..in short…..high economic thinner, leaner was good and in lows… rounder heavier {healthier…stronger} was more attractive…..interesting….
April 2, 2010 at 9:51 am
I mean the ones I got when I clicked in the link in your name here. You have a lot of animals and tree photos and I love tree photos.
Your thoughts are provocative. I don’t believe there might be a direct correlation, but an indirect one is not to be throw away. Commenting your last idea and being one person who won some weight recently, I can speak from experience to say I don’t equate roundness to strength or health, but as an indicator how people are able to fat. In harsh times, maybe that’s an attraction factor (although if that’s the case, I wish I was not so attractive… I prefer to be light). In the opposite side, the stereotype of the business man/woman who made fortune in the recent times was the thin, energetic, light and agile form, fast in taking risks and opportunities… we lived recently times where to enrich was a “science”, something inevitable with a lot of work. Leaner forms should have be more attractive then, but the recent crises might have discredit it… maybe.
Anyway, in my case, I think simplicity might be the main factor. This in itself, might be related with your idea since simple forms are more economic in efforts (and resources) to perceive.
March 31, 2010 at 9:51 am |
Right, left, left. Obvious!
Well, I first I thought the test was rubbish, but from the other answers it seems there’s really a pattern of preferences. Interesting.
March 31, 2010 at 10:02 am |
Given the number of responses here feeling that right on the first one is preferable (incluing me) and left for the others, the percentages presented appear questionable.
It reminds me of the study of those sea bird chicks presented with an abstract version of a parents beak and reacting even more to an extreme version of it than an accurate copy – there are some primitive ‘rules’ which the majority at least are hardwired by evolution to prefer and art can appeal to these in ways we can’t always articulate or even recognise, we just ‘know what we like’.
March 31, 2010 at 10:11 am |
In my own photos I instinctively try to avoid having “bits touching” where I can help it – I just think it’s easier on the eye – so was put off the second and third right-hand images. I’m glad to know it’s not just me! Though obviously there’s no “right” answer
March 31, 2010 at 11:10 am |
I chose left, right, left!
March 31, 2010 at 11:49 am |
Rubbish! One artist does not “artistic judgement” make… Give this same test to Arabic subjects, and they will choose the image on the right every time.
March 31, 2010 at 11:50 am |
…just becaus they read right to left, and give more “weight” to any image on the right…
March 31, 2010 at 12:08 pm |
Right, left, left
March 31, 2010 at 12:16 pm |
right, right, left
March 31, 2010 at 12:36 pm |
Hmmmm. Well, i can see that if you like ‘order’ and cliché you’d go for the left. But if you are able to make more out of a form, then surely you’d go for the asymmetry and disorder of the right hand side? Quirky is still artistic. Often far more artistic.
BTW, what is that tiny little smiley at the bottom of the page all about?
March 31, 2010 at 1:01 pm |
6 other artists? Hardly exhaustively rigorous! As a test of “artistic judgement” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) I’d say it’s a load of bunk as there’s no way to objectively measure such an ephemeral trait.
March 31, 2010 at 1:10 pm |
I choose right, left, left
March 31, 2010 at 1:16 pm |
I chose the left one on all three and felt it was that was the truly obvious choice in each instance. I thought about which one would look best as a design on my wall.
March 31, 2010 at 1:34 pm |
Right, right, left.
March 31, 2010 at 2:01 pm |
[...] Test yourself…… « Richard Wiseman's Blog [...]
March 31, 2010 at 2:02 pm |
Before putting on glasses: Right, tied, left. After putting on glasses: Right, left, left. I thought the middle right one had some clever calligraphy until my eyes focus and I saw it was just more squished together at the top. Bummer.
Of course, then someone mentioned that the middle two kind of look like faces and now I can’t unsee it.
March 31, 2010 at 2:03 pm |
I seem to be with the majority of responders in prefering the right hand image in the first pairing and the left for other two.
As an artist, that’s reassuring!!
March 31, 2010 at 2:24 pm
@ Sabina……to be in the “majority” as an artist…..reassuring? Why as an artist would you want to be one going a long with the crowd? Not criticizing just curious? This whole thing Richard has posted has some twists and maybe more of a look in another direction….. but has left me wondering why some say they picked the “obvious” correct choice when it comes to art work….what do you think?
March 31, 2010 at 2:11 pm |
I picked the right hand one each time. I think all that says is that I have different aesthetic opinions to the artist.
March 31, 2010 at 2:12 pm |
R, L L
I thought this may be something to do with harmony and balance.
March 31, 2010 at 2:15 pm |
I guess I am boring. I picked all of the left ones.
March 31, 2010 at 2:29 pm |
Clearly I prefer asymmetry in my art, as I chose Left, Right, Right. The one on the top Right was too hourglassy, so I picked Left. I liked the Right in the middle pair because it wasn’t as “clean” – the one on the Left looked like a squiggly line shaped like a face; the Right one had some character. Same with the bottom pair – the one on the Right was boring and symmetrical, the one on the Left was more interesting.
March 31, 2010 at 2:30 pm |
Oops should have read: “Same with the bottom pair – the one on the Left was boring and symmetrical, the one on the Right was more interesting.” That was bound to happen.
March 31, 2010 at 2:46 pm |
r, both, r
1. The right one is more fluid and balanced. It seems closer to the golden ratio (or an accentuation of the hourglass form of a woman’s body).
2. The one on the left seems too simplistic, it’s just a profile of a face, however it is appealing, if a bit bland and boring. I’ve never been a big fan of caricatures. On the right is what you’d want to hang on your wall, as you’d keep looking at it, entranced, it’s more balanced in form, but challenges the viewer.
3. Left fits rules of balance, symmetry, ratio, form.
I’ve taken a few art classes, won several amateur photo competitions, worked as a 3D animator and video editor.
March 31, 2010 at 6:35 pm
In the third, you choose right or left?
March 31, 2010 at 2:56 pm |
1st Pair I picked right but the other two I picked left.
Can’t see that the top left is better than the right hand side IMHO.
March 31, 2010 at 3:10 pm |
They’re all ‘right’.
March 31, 2010 at 3:19 pm |
left left left
my aesthetic opinions are the correct ones i’ve been saying this for years
March 31, 2010 at 3:47 pm |
Left, left, left for me
. Although I thought about the first one more…
March 31, 2010 at 4:14 pm |
left, right, left
But if they had told me i had to choose the more aesthetic ones, i would have picked all the left ones.
I chose the right middle one because it would be better as streets.
March 31, 2010 at 4:34 pm |
‘six other artists who agreed. In each instance the more appealing one is shown on the left.”’
END of test…appeal is like saying love is ‘green”…who is to judge? certainly not 6 artists not 6 scientists…not in my case anyway.
March 31, 2010 at 9:02 pm |
I really enjoyed your lecture @ the Ri tonight. A thought occured to me later about gestural jokes. I have one where the punch line is entirely nonverbal – it usually gets a few laughs. Anyway, thank you – great talk.
March 31, 2010 at 9:05 pm |
I only found the middle left one to be appealing, the other two I instantly preferred the right ones.
I find this especially peculiar and almost down-heartening, since I am an artist and am doing a BA in Sequential Illustration!! lol am I worse at art then I think?
March 31, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Don’t be disheartened Rebecca, I chose the exact same as you and I have been working as an a artist for years (perhaps a terrible one!) but as someone says at the top of this thread, aesthetics are subjective so it’s hard to quantify in this instance what is objectively ‘better’ aesthetically.
keep inking!
March 31, 2010 at 10:36 pm |
I’m a graphic designer & artist, and I choose the left in all 3 cases.
March 31, 2010 at 11:00 pm |
artists in the league of picasso, dante, shakespeare may be as good as they think they are, the rest of us may all be best off being a bit humble.
personally i dabble. poetry, painting, gardening etc.
April 1, 2010 at 1:29 am |
all 3 right. I’m the f*ckin man.
April 1, 2010 at 1:30 am |
…and by ‘right’ I mean left
April 1, 2010 at 4:48 am
Wow Zach I’m glad you made all that clear!! So maybe I might need to make mine clear too…….I went all 3 right and by “right” I mean the 3 on the right side column……. :}
April 1, 2010 at 3:09 am |
I chose the left for the first 2, but the right for the last one. And out of all of the forms, I find the last one on the right to be the most appealing form.
And, I’m an artist
April 1, 2010 at 3:10 am |
[...] Test yourself…… « Richard Wiseman's Blog [...]
April 1, 2010 at 5:59 am |
I picked Left each time.
April 1, 2010 at 6:23 am |
most answers above are of a technical nature, wits and thought and conceived forms.
direct emotions are hardly mentioned. that is strange to me. f.ex. attraction is a set of emotions and primary impressions, i believe. such underlie any choice.s/he who professes to being ‘an artist’ presumably has training in direct access to body-sensations and emotions.
give ! please !
April 1, 2010 at 7:40 am |
Of the first pair I find the right one more appealing. It looks more symmetrical and the curves appear rounder.
As to the other two, the pictures on the right seemed to me to be jumbled-up versions of the pictures on the left, so I picked the left one in both cases.
April 1, 2010 at 7:44 am |
left, left, left
April 1, 2010 at 8:22 am |
[...] Test yourself…… « Richard Wiseman's Blog [...]
April 1, 2010 at 10:36 am |
The top left looks like it’s trying to prove something. Silly blob, vanity is for squiggles.
April 1, 2010 at 2:01 pm |
I could barely tell the difference between the top two and had no preference on them at all. The second one I picked left, but it was a narrow choice, the third I had a very strong preference for the image on the left.
To me the bottom one, and to a lesser extent the second one, were about order. The left image seemed more orderly, less chaotic.
April 1, 2010 at 7:07 pm |
I actually got the first one “wrong” and the other two “right”.
April 2, 2010 at 1:05 pm |
Left. So what does this tell about me?
April 2, 2010 at 8:58 pm |
RRL
April 3, 2010 at 6:29 pm |
middle left
April 6, 2010 at 10:16 am |
I think art is not about simetry (good looking in this case). I think the ones who chosed the other drawings are more original as artist, with wider limits. The six artist are probably taking their art actions as a job, in a more rational way. Art is not rational.
April 7, 2010 at 7:21 pm |
Right, left, left.
“95% of people get the top pair ‘right’”
[Citation needed].
April 8, 2010 at 10:58 pm |
Am I the only one to not realise these were supposed to be three different sets?
For what it’s worth, I liked the left ‘one’.
April 15, 2010 at 10:13 am |
Completely didn’t realise they were different at first glance, ahem.
But I prefer the ones on the right.
Top left looks like a smurf to me?
April 16, 2010 at 1:07 pm |
I chose the top right, then the left-hand one for the next two.
April 26, 2010 at 6:50 pm |
I’m an artist who makes a good living (almost six figures US dollars) making tee shirt designs for women’s apparel. I chose all three on the right. I’m curious how successful as far as career is concerned the artist and his friends were who designed this.
December 9, 2010 at 6:49 pm |
I know I’m late, but the last one is the logo of the Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games (just saying).
December 18, 2010 at 11:04 am |
One on left coz upside down its a happy face!!
December 18, 2010 at 11:04 am |
One on left coz upside down its a happy face!!!