Righteous Adam, Sinister Eve

The symbolism of laterality in images implies that the virtuous figure is represented on the right of the scene whereas the sinful character is depicted on the left. In portraits of male and female characters this has reflected and reinforced stereotypes and inequalities down the ages. Given these premises, we hypothesized that the prototypical representations of Adam and Eve, as a man and a woman conflated with notions of virtue and vice, would show a non-random arrangement. We tested this hypothesis, sampling artistic depictions of the Garden of Eden, from the twelth century to the present day in three separately-collected series of 100, 99, and 142 images respectively. Eve is depicted to Adam's left significantly more often than chance (between 70% and 83%), particularly in pre-1600 artworks. We interpret this asymmetry as reflecting the perceived lesser status of women in relation to men, since the allegorical incipit of humankind. We also provide experimental evidence that this asymmetry, although pervasive, has not been internalized by modern viewers. Cognitive sciences account for this spatial asymmetry in terms of preference for figures placed within the left visual field of the observer, i.e., within the right space of the objective scene.