American Beauty: A Study in Aesthetics of Landscapes and Human Emotions

This topic submitted by Maxx Rodrigues, Victor Smith, Rachel Ross ( smithvs@muohio.edu ) on 10/21/05. [Section: Myers]

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

INTRODUCTION:
Everywhere we go we are surrounded by varying landscapes. What most people do not realize is how these diverse environments subconsciously impact our lives. The purpose of our study is to determine which landscapes, whether natural or man made, provide the observer with the best mood based upon aesthetics. By recreating the same picture ten times with different environmental aspects in each, we hypothesize that landscapes containing water at dusk, when the sun is not as bright will provide the most pleasing mood. We believe this because the presence of water supports cell communication in the body. Water is an essential element to every human being and so the presence of water relaxes a person and puts him or her in a more comfortable mood. Also the time of day has a vital role in the mood of a person as well. Our research says that at night people are more relaxed because it is the end of the day and they are done with their work. At dusk people feel they can unwind and enjoy the scenery. Our experiment will take place here at Miami University in Oxford, OH where there is a large populous of people from all different types of environments.

Background:
Every type of landscape provides a different aesthetically pleasing mood. According to previous, similar studies a savanna like environment has been the most satisfying atmosphere. A savanna includes open areas with few trees and water. This reminds people of their ancient roots in nature, a main prediction as to why the savanna is so appreciated (Holmes, 1992). According to biologist E.O. Wilson biophilia extends from our past human experiences with nature. Biophilia is the pleasure one gets from nature and the surrounding world (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).
The appreciation for different landscapes date back to the seventeenth through the nineteenth century European Romanticism period. The artists of this time portrayed environmental characteristics in peaceful surroundings thus laying the groundwork for what people now assume to be pleasing aesthetics (Gerard).
Several studies done on aesthetics of landscapes have come to prove that there are several aspects that can influence the decisions different people make about their surroundings. The two most influential characteristics are age and culture. Obviously we are impacted by the area that we were raised and by the time span we have been around to experience several landscapes and environments (Gerard). This may create error in our gathering of data considering we are on a college campus we are limited to an age range of 18-24.
In addition to age and culture, other studies have shown that there are a few preferences in aesthetic qualities in landscapes. Some of these qualities include the presence of water (especially running water), structured hedgerows of trees, and open fields. Even some studies show that there are predispositions relating negative consequences with spatially restricted natural environments (Gerard, Aesthetics in the Landscape).
One study involving different landscapes and mood was done only a few years ago here at Miami University, by Greg Michalec and Jenny Hershberger. After the group had done similar research, they presented to several people on campus nine photographs, each on a different page, each displaying different landscapes. The people were to rate these pictures based on how aesthetically pleasing each of the photographs were. They hypothesized that pictures including any green vegetation, water, and/or open spaces would please people more than pictures containing dry, enclosed land with dying vegetation. They believed this because they thought people would be more connected to things that people require to live, and through DarwinÕs idea of survival of the fittest have a connection to these variables. They tested their theoriesÕ results using several methods, including taking account for people who score higher, however, after all their methods were completed, the only variable that seemed to really differ from its opposite was green vegetation and dying vegetation (http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/HNature ProposalArticles/TheBeautyofSurvival.Socio.html). This study was a major inspiration for our lab, and it will be somewhat of a guideline to our methods. However, we also consider that the differences between our and their experiment, as well as the means of measuring results, will result in different conclusions.
Given the background information of these and other previous studies, research, and experiments, the goal of our lab is to determine through the use of photographs and the landscapes presented on them, what is most aesthetically pleasing.

METHODS:

For our lab we will start off with one picture and then alter it in different ways until we get ten different images. By doing it this way we eliminate as many variables as possible because each photo will only be altered in one way from the original. We will start off with a open grassy field. Then, using Adobe Photoshop, we will adjust the levels to make five of them appear to be taken at dusk. After that we will add water, trees, mountains, and buildings. For each object added there will be two photographs, one at dusk and one during the day. Including a dusk one and a daylight one of the open field that gives us ten separate photographs. We feel that this wide range of images encompasses the full spectrum a landscapes that could be pleasing to an individual. We also feel that having them be set at dusk and also during the day will give us a more extensive view of the population as a whole. These photos will then be glued to a piece a cardboard and numbered one through ten. We think that it will be better to place all of the images in order on the cardboard so that people can see all of them at once and compare them. We plan on setting up a table at Shriver with the images displayed and then handing out a piece of paper where the participants will mark which photographs are the most appealing. (See attached survey) We will conduct this survey on the following dates: October 31, November 4,7,11,14, and 18. That will give us two weeks to analyze the results.
OUR DAY: For our day in class we plan on bringing in the images and presenting them to the class. After that we will ask the students to pick which photograph is most visually stimulating to them. Finally we will discuss the results and try to determine, as a class, why they picked the one that they did. This information will provide us with a start for our analysis. Once we get a small sample from the class it will provide us with a general direction in which to direct our analysis of our data.

RESULTS:

In this lab we will try to determine which landscapes are most pleasing to people based on different natural elements. To do this we will compare the results of our survey. The information gained through the survey will give us the number of people who found a specific picture visually appealing. With that information we will be able to count the total number of votes for each picture. After that we will try and determine, based on our research, why that particular landscape was the most appealing.

DISCUSSION:
One of the problems that we might run into is if we do not obtain a majority in the votes. When we count the surveys we need to have a majority in order to analyze the data. If this does occur we will send out a list serve to the western community with the pictures attached in order to get more results. Another problem might be that people might not have ever seen these landscapes in real life. A lot of the participants will most likely be from Ohio since we are at Miami University and so they might not have ever seen mountains in person.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Internet Sites:
1. http://web15.epnet.com/citation.asp Galindo, Ma Paz. International Journal of Psychology. Feb2005, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p19-26
2. http://web15.epnet.com/externalframe.asp Angelaki, Journal of the Theoretical Humanities. Volume 9, number 2, august 2004. Shapiro,Gary
3. http://web15.epnet.com/citation.asp Journal of Arts Management, Law & Society. Winter99, Vol. 28 Issue 4, p247, 12p.
DAVID E. W. FENNER
4. http://advgeo.rutgers.edu/papers/Aesthetics.htm
5. http://www.topten.org/content/tt.BF3.htm
6. Student Generated Lab: http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/HNatureProposalArticles/TheBeautyofSurvival.Socio.html
7. The American Heritage¨ Dictionary of the English Language. 10 Oct. 2005 http://dictionary.refernce.com/search/search?q=biophilia

Books:
1. A Return To Aesthetics: Autonomy, Indifference, And Postmodernism (Hardcover) by Jonathan Loesberg
2. Ljungquist, Kent, 1948-,The grand and the fair : Poe's landscape aesthetics and pictorial techniques / Kent Ljungquist
3. Wu, Jiahua, 1946-, A comparative study of landscape aesthetics : landscape morphology
4. Landscape aesthetics [electronic resource] : a handbook for scenery management
5. Understanding images : finding meaning in digital imagery / [edited by] Francis T. Marchese
6. Johnson-Caldwell, Denise Eileen, 1958-, Philosophies of landscape aesthetics: an investigation of landscape aesthetic theory and meaning
7. Bourassa, Steven C., 1957-, The aesthetics of landscape
8. Kellert, Stephen R. Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia in Human Evolution and Development. Washington, D.C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books. c1997
9. Holmes, Bob. "Nature Soothes Body and Soul." U.S. News and World Report. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
10. Kellert, Stephen R. Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia in Human Evolution and Development. Washington, D.C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books. c1997

Sample Survey:

American Beauty: A Study in Aesthetics of Landscapes and Human Emotions

o Picture 1
o Picture 2
o Picture 3
o Picture 4
o Picture 5
o Picture 6
o Picture 7
o Picture 8
o Picture 9
o Picture 10

Next Article
Previous Article
Return to the Topic Menu