The Golden (?) Section (08-20-10)

It may be time to rethink the hallowed status of the golden section.  Recent research analyzing human fondness for rectangles of various shapes indicates it may not reign supreme, at least regarding preferred rectangles.  The golden section, also known as the golden ratio, is 1:1.618 and relates, in the case of rectangles, to the lengths of each set of parallel sides. 

McManus and colleagues found that participants in their study had highly consistent individual preferences for particular rectangle shapes.  Overall their results “provide little or no support for the special status of the Golden Section.  Few participants showed preferences that could be said to be at the Golden Section. . . . It appears to be time, therefore, for any special status of the Golden Section in rectangle aesthetics to be dropped.”  Information was also collected about the people who participated in this study and “none of the individual difference measures, either in personality, interest in aesthetics, or in response to the experiment, explain those rectangle preference differences.”

I. McManus, Richard Cook, and Amy Hunt.  2010.  “Beyond the Golden Section and Normative Aesthetics:  Why Do Individuals Differ So Much In Their Aesthetic Preferences for Rectangles?” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 113-136.