| In order (1) to study the relationship between complexity
and preference for slides of the physical environment and (2) to test the
hypothesis that the content of slides (in particular, whether nature or
urban) will influence preference, independent of the rated complexity , 88
Ss were asked to rate 56 slides, both for preference and for complexity.
Based on dimensional analyses, a nature and an urban dimension were
identified. Three major results were obtained: (1) Nature scenes were
greatly preferred to urban scenes (p<.001). (2) Complexity predicted
preference within the nature domain (r=.69) and within the urban domain
(r=.78). (3) Complexity did not account for the preference for nature over
urban slides. The possibility is raised that the domain-specific character
of the preference/complexity relationship found in this study may be
general; that is, it may not be a special property of environmentally
generated arrays. |