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THE GOLDEN SECTION HYPOTHESIS
Author(s) -
BENJAFIELD J.,
ADAMSWEBBER J.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1976.tb01492.x
Subject(s) - psychology , golden ratio , section (typography) , interpersonal communication , social psychology , special section , mathematics , geometry , advertising , business , engineering physics , engineering
The golden section is a proportion the aesthetic properties of which have been extolled since antiquity. The data from five experiments in which subjects made dichotomous judgements of acquaintances on bipolar dimensions (e.g. pleasant‐unpleasant ) were reported. These data indicated that the mean proportion of positive adjectives used in making interpersonal judgements is an excellent approximation of the golden section. An explanation of this finding was offered in terms of Berlyne's ‘strikingness hypothesis’. It was suggested that Boucher & Osgood's ‘Pollyanna hypothesis’ should be extended to include the possibility that, by tending to organize his judgements in the golden section ratio, the person is able to pay special attention to negative events.