Is the human initial preference for rounded shapes universal? Preliminary results of an ongoing cross-cultural research G Gómez-Puerto, E Munar, C Acedo, A Gomila |
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Human Evolution & Cognition Group, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain
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| It has been claimed that humans show an initial negative bias towards sharp contoured objects [Bar and Neta, 2006, Psychological Science, 17(8), 645-648]. Said preference has been hypothesized to result from a primitive perception of sharp transitions in contour as conveying a sense of threat. A later report of significantly higher levels of activity in the amygdala when perceiving everyday sharp objects, compared to its curved counterparts, endorses this idea [Bar and Neta, 2007, Neuropsychologia, 45, 2191-2200]. However, it remains to be tested whether this is indeed a universal human trait and not culturally determined. In order to do this, we devised a forced choice experiment employing a subset of the stimuli previously used by Bar & Neta, in an attempt to minimize a possible bias caused by the novelty of certain objects. After replicating their findings with students from the University of the Balearic Islands, we carried out an experiment with local population in Ghana. Our results follow the trend that would be expected if the original hypothesis were correct, although the need to verify the results among different cultural backgrounds call for further research. |
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