Abstract
The golden section is a proportion the aesthetic properties of which have been extolled since antiquity. The data from five experiments in which subjects made dichotomous judgements of acquaintances on bipolar dimensions (e.g. pleasant‐unpleasant ) were reported. These data indicated that the mean proportion of positive adjectives used in making interpersonal judgements is an excellent approximation of the golden section. An explanation of this finding was offered in terms of Berlyne's ‘strikingness hypothesis’. It was suggested that Boucher & Osgood's ‘Pollyanna hypothesis’ should be extended to include the possibility that, by tending to organize his judgements in the golden section ratio, the person is able to pay special attention to negative events.
Keywords
PsychologyGolden ratioSection (typography)Interpersonal communicationSocial psychologySpecial sectionMathematicsGeometry
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Positive Emotions Speed Recovery from the Cardiovascular Sequelae of Negative Emotions
Two studies tested the hypothesis that certain positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. In Study 1, 60 subjects (Ss) viewed an ini...
Hereditary dysphasic disinhibition dementia A frontotemporal dementia linked to 17 q21‐‐22
Several dementias have been linked to the same region and have been termed frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17. These disorders may represent pheno...
Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults.
Meta-analyses were conducted on 14 separate risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the moderating effects of various sample and study characteristics, includ...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1976
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11-15
- Citations
- 134
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
134
OpenAlex
Cite This
John G. Benjafield,
Jack Adams‐Webber
(1976).
THE GOLDEN SECTION HYPOTHESIS.
British Journal of Psychology
, 67
(1)
, 11-15.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1976.tb01492.x
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1976.tb01492.x