The aesthetics of simple figures.

After reviewing the literature on experimental rectangle aesthetics ('the golden section') it was concluded that all of the effects demonstrated in the literature were dubious, either due to methodological limitations or inadvertent experimenter bias, these defects being compounded by most studies only considering population preferences and ignoring individual differences in preference. A series of experiments is described in which highly significant and temporally stable, but somewhat idiosyncratic, individual preferences were found. A taxonomy of these preferences, as well as of those for three separate types of triangle preference, is provided, based on factorial analysis. Two clear factors were demonstrated, one based on the square, and the other upon a proportion similar to that of the golden section.