Personality and preference for painting style.

Area of Science:

• Psychology of Aesthetics
• Art Perception Psychology

Background:

• Locus of control (LOC) is a psychological concept concerning the degree to which individuals believe they have control over life events.
• Cubism and Surrealism are distinct 20th-century art movements with unique visual characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between aesthetic preferences for Cubist versus Surrealist art and locus of control.
• To determine if a preference for Cubism correlates with internal LOC and Surrealism with external LOC.

Main Methods:

• 40 university students were presented with 15 pairs of paintings, one Cubist and one Surrealist.
• Participants selected their preferred artwork from each pair based on aesthetic appeal.
• Collected aesthetic preference data were correlated with scores from Rotter's Internal vs. External Locus of Control Scale.

Main Results:

• A positive correlation was found between a preference for Cubist art and an internal locus of control.
• A positive correlation was observed between a preference for Surrealist art and an external locus of control.
• The findings support the hypothesis linking art style preference with locus of control orientation.

Conclusions:

• Aesthetic preferences in visual art may be associated with an individual's locus of control.
• Preference for the structured, fragmented style of Cubism may align with an internal locus of control.
• Preference for the often irrational, dreamlike style of Surrealism may align with an external locus of control.