Some effects of esthetic conditions

Abstract

The experiments of this study pertained to the effects of visual-esthetic conditions upon university students. A total of four different rooms were used as the experimental conditions: A "beautified" office, an "average" office, an "average" classroom, and an "uglified" office. Three types of effects were studied: (1) Effects of Initial Exposure---A given student spent only 10 minutes in one of the four conditions. While in this room, he responded to a rating scale administered by an examiner. The rating procedure questioned his impressions of the energy (or fatigue) and the well-being (or discontent) manifest in a series of 10-face-photographs. (2) Effects of an Immediate Change in Conditions---After the initial 10 minute period spent in one room-condition, the student immediately went to another room-condition where he rated an equivalent series of 10 photographs. (3) Effects of Prolonged and Multiple Exposure---Two of the examiners administered the rating scale for three sessions of one or two hours each, both in the "beautified" room and in the "uglified" room, alternating rooms after each testing session. At the end of each testing session the examiners administered the rating scale to themselves. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)