15. Gender-Based Study of Aesthetic Perception on 2D Symmetrical Shapes

The current study examines the impact of 2D shapes’ symmetry while accounting for gender variations. Symmetry is one of the properties that improve aesthetic perception (Tuch et al. in Comput Hum Behav 26:1831–1837, 2010) [1]. Its impact on aesthetic perception has been documented in various publications, but the impact of symmetry on 2D shapes was less understood. Another issue that needs to be addressed is that gender-related design preferences are rarely investigated in studies. The consequences of the aesthetic perception with which observers could discern symmetry in 2D shapes that included symmetric by reflection or translation—within single objects or across different objects are described in this article. For this, a total of 95 persons (50 men, 45 women) took part in a laboratory experiment in which they were asked to score 2D symmetrical shapes on symmetry, aesthetic preference, and meaningfulness. Then the subjects were given a task on a computer screen to rate the symmetrical shapes based on their aesthetic preference. Stimuli were illustrated on a white background. Horizontal symmetrical 2D shapes were rated based on the scale of aesthetic perception and were deemed the most preferred.

The research findings can be considered by the common design practices, especially if they are aiming to create a target audience that is predominantly female, and when they aim to design for a majority of certain gender. Furthermore, the results hinted that the preferential bias associated with a particular type of symmetry was limited to male participants as it was observed that only men react negatively to reflection-type (horizontal, vertical, rotational, horizontal–vertical) 2D shapes, whereas women's aesthetic judgments are mostly unaffected by symmetry significantly. The data clearly indicate that only men are sensitive to that symmetry effect, whereas horizontal symmetrically designed 2D shapes were found to be similarly pleasing among both genders.