Aesthetics, Affect, and Cognition: Environmental Preference from an Evolutionary Perspective

Scenes of the outdoor physical environment vary substantially in the extent to which they are preferred. Variables empirically found to predict preference can be analyzed both in terms of their information-processing implications and in terms of their evolutionary significance. Some of these predictors appear to require fairly extensive information processing, thus supporting the hypothesis that a rapid, unconscious type of cognition may precede certain affective judgments. Such ties between cognition and affect are understandable in the context of the proposed theoretical framework for environmental preference. This framework not only provides a coherent guide to research but also points to the pervasiveness and significance of aesthetics as a factor in human behavior and human experience.