Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Sources
Why Beautiful Things Make us Happy –
Beauty Explained
– Definition of Beauty
# Definition of beauty in English, 2018
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/beauty
– Symmetry of Stone Axes
# High handaxe symmetry at the beginning of the European Acheulian: The data from la Noira (France) in context, 2017
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177063
# Human perception of symmetry, raw material and size of palaeolithic handaxes, 2017
http://journal.lithics.org/index.php/lithics/article/viewFile/720/705
# Symmetry is its own reward: on the character and significance of Acheulean handaxe symmetry in the Middle Pleistocene, 2018
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/24760/1/24760.pdf?DDD6+drk0mjw+d700tmt+drk0mjw+d700tmt
– No practical reasons for symmetry in stone axes
# Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness, 2007
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440306001762
# Influence of Handaxe Size and Shape on Cutting Efficiency: A Large-Scale Experiment and Morphometric Analysis, 2017
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-016-9276-0
# The handaxe reconsidered, 2017
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/evan.21552
– Studying beauty/ attempts at quantifying beauty
# Quantifying Beauty: An Information System for Evaluating Universal Aesthetics, 2000
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.36.5395
# Facial Attractiveness: Beauty and the Machine, 2005
https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/089976606774841602
# Ernst Mach, “Lecture on Symmetry,” in Popular Scientific Lectures, 1895
https://archive.org/details/cu31924012322354
– occurrence of patterns like symmetry, fractals, golden ratio in different cultures over the ages
#Cross-cultural empirical aesthetics, 2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079612318300025
# How to Explore Golden Ratio in Architecture and Designing City, 2016
# Why golden rectangle is used so often by architects: A mathematical approach, 2015
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110016815000265
# List of works designed with the golden ratio, 2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_designed_with_the_golden_ratio
# African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design by Ron Eglash, 1999
– recurring patterns are all based in nature
# Patterns in Nature, 2005
# The Fractal Geometry of Nature – By Benoit. B. Mandelbrot, 1977
http://www.dsf.unica.it/~fiore/libricorsoptr/The_Fractal_Geometry_of_Nature.pdf
1. Why beauty makes us happy
– symmetry in nature signals normality
# Are human preferences for facial symmetry focused on signals of developmental instability?, 2004
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/15/5/864/318486
# Fearful Symmetry: Subversion of Asymmetric Division in Cancer Development and Progression, 2015
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/75/5/792.full.pdf
# Behind the Looking-Glass: A Review on Human Symmetry Perception, 2010
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/2/3/1510
# Developmental stability in plants: Symmetries, stress and epigenesis, 1993
https://slideheaven.com/developmental-stability-in-plants-symmetries-stress-and-epigenesis.html
# The relative importance of size and asymmetry in sexual selection, 1998
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/9/6/546/336111
– a symmetrical face in humans is associated with health and fertility
# The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art by Anjan Chatterjee, Oxford University Press, 2013
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-aesthetic-brain-9780199811809?cc=de&lang=en
# Facial attractiveness: evolutionary based research, 2011
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130383/
# Symmetrical women have higher potential fertility, 2006
https://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(06)00004-3/abstract
# Predictors of facial attractiveness and health in humans, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39731
– symmetry is familiar to the brain
# Brain correlates of aesthetic judgment of beauty., 2006
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16087351
– fractal patterns can be found all over nature
# Novel Fibonacci and non-Fibonacci structure in the sunflower: results of a citizen science experiment, 2016
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/5/160091
# Computational models of plant development and form, 2011
http://www.sns.ias.edu/pitp2/2012files/tansley.np2012.pdf
# Fractal geometry and superformula to model natural shapes, 2013
# Algorithmic botany, 2018
http://algorithmicbotany.org/papers/
# The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature, 1999
– things that help us survive activate our reward center in the brain
# The handaxe reconsidered, 2017
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/evan.21552
# The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art by Anjan Chatterjee, Oxford University Press, 2013
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-aesthetic-brain-9780199811809?cc=de&lang=en
– experiments showing laymen real and fake abstract paintings from Mondrian
# Experimenting with Mondrian: Comparing the method of production with the method of choice, 2014
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273574222
# Basic aesthetic features and their influence on attention and performance, 2015
# Contemporary Experimental Aesthetics: Procedures and Findings, 2014
# Perceptual and physiological responses to Jackson Pollock’s fractals, 2011
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00060/full
# Fractals: A Resonance between Art and Nature, 2005
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3f50/0956057ae2cf15a6168621e008edb012dae2.pdf
– laymen can tell real abstract art from similar fakes by children and animals
# Your kid could not have done that: Even untutored observers can discern intentionality and structure in abstract expressionist art, 2014
– appreciating art is a natural process for the brain
# Neural correlates of viewing paintings: evidence from a quantitative meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data., 2014
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24704947
– fractals can be found in various famous works of art
# Fractal Patterns in Nature and Art Are Aesthetically Pleasing and Stress-Reducing, 2017
# Perceptual and physiological responses to Jackson Pollock’s fractals, 2011
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00060/full
2. Is beauty important?
– our brains and bodies react to beauty
# Art and Emotion, 2017/18
https://aesthetics.univie.ac.at/research/art-emotion/
# Lessons from neuroscience: form follows function, emotions follow form, 2013
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508975.2013.807767
# The Physiology of Phenomenology: The Effects of Artworks, 2012
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/EM.30.1.g?journalCode=arta
– study: visual art in hospitals made patients more comfortable and happier
# How do patients actually experience and use art in hospitals? The significance of interaction: a user-oriented experimental case study, 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328392/
– study: patients in newer wards recovered faster and needed less pain medication
# The Architectural Healthcare Environment and its Effects on Patient Health Outcomes, 2003
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/254/ArchHealthEnv.pdf
– transforming ugly vacant lots into community spaces reduced crime and gun violence
# Empty Spaces, Dangerous Places, 1998
http://cptedontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Empty-Spaces-Dangerous-Places.pdf
# An evaluation of secured by design housing within west yorkshire, 2000
http://www.popcenter.org/library/scp/pdf/04-Armitage.pdf
# This city fights crime with gardening, 2018
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/city-fights-crime-gardening
# Reduce crime and gun violence and stabilize neighborhoods: A randomized controlled study, 2018
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180226152718.htm
More examples:
# A Difference-in-Differences Analysis of Health, Safety, and Greening Vacant Urban Space, 2011
https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/174/11/1296/111352
# Greening vacant lots to reduce violent crime: a randomised controlled trial, 2012
https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2012/08/06/injuryprev-2012-040439
# Transforming vacant lots: Investigating an alternative approach to reducing fear of crime, 2017
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494417300233
# Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear, 2017
http://www.pnas.org/content/115/12/2946
# Crime Rates Countered by Urban Design Measures, 2017
http://marks-thomas.com/2017/11/crime-rates-countered-urban-design-measures/
– beauty affects daily happiness
# Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness in Ten Major Cities, 2011
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1078087411403120
# Beautiful Places: The Role of Perceived Aesthetic Beauty in Community Satisfaction, 2010
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00343404.2010.486784
– studies give evidence that aesthetic environments improve wellbeing, behavior, cognitive function and mood
# Living environment and its relationship to depressive mood: A systematic review, 2016
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0020764017744582
# The Psychological Impact of Architectural Design, 2018
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2850&context=cmc_theses
# Science and Culture: The brain within buildings, 2017
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/5/785
# What Architecture Is Doing to Your Brain, 2014
https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/11/what-architecture-is-doing-to-your-brain/382553/
# A study of aesthetic factors and aesthetic responses of the interior environment, 2014
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.686.2804&rep=rep1&type=pdf
# Buildings, Beauty, and the Brain: A Neuroscience of Architectural Experience, 2017
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1161&context=neuroethics_pubs
# Origins of Architectural Pleasure, 1999
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520215054/origins-of-architectural-pleasure
http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/10/origins-of-architectural-pleasure-by-grant-hildebrand
# Are These Four Walls Causing You Pleasure—or Pain?, 2018
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/are-these-four-walls-causing-you-pleasure-or-pain/
# Review: The Impact of Art, Design and Environment in Mental Healthcare: a systematic review of the literature, 2008
# Environmental aesthetics and psychological wellbeing: relationships between preference judgements for urban landscapes and other relevant affective responses, 2000
# Relation of nature and environment with pleasant emotions of humans in daily life, 2016
http://journals.sbmu.ac.ir/Neuroscience/article/view/13512
# Places of the Heart: The Psychogeography of Everyday Life by Collin Ellard, 2015
https://www.amazon.com/Places-Heart-Psychogeography-Everyday-Life/dp/1942658001
# Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery, 2013
https://www.amazon.de/Happy-City-Transforming-Through-Design-ebook/dp/B009LRWHPY
– study field neuroaesthetics
# Beauty and the Brain: The Emerging Field of Neuroaesthetics, 2017
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/10/neuroaesthetics-cover/
– we judge things as functioning better if they are beautiful
# The Aesthetic-Usability Effect: Why beautiful-looking products are preferred over usable-but-not-beautiful ones. 2017
https://medium.com/@coffeeandjunk/design-psychology-aesthetic-usability-effect-494ed0f22571
# The aesthetic-usability effect, 2010
http://courses.washington.edu/art479/media/universal_principles1.pdf
# Emotion and Design: Attractive things work better, 2002
https://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/emotion_design_attractive_things_work_better.html
# Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, 2004
https://motamem.org/upload/Emotional-Design-Why-We-Love-or-Hate-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman.pdf
– website designs that follow aesthetic principles are easier to navigate and learn from
# A blessing, not a curse: Experimental evidence for beneficial effects of visual aesthetics on performance, 2010
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140130903061717
# Benefits of emotional design in multimedia instruction, 2014
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b946/2e2d8213fe0d132db9ab710e7a00d5edc224.pdf
# Emotional design and positive emotions in multimedia learning, 2015
https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2838533
# Why aesthetics matter to Learning, 2014
https://www.td.org/insights/why-aesthetics-matter-to-learning
# Impact of web design on credibility
https://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_hci09_paper66.pdf
More examples/ further reading:
– Biophilic design
# Psychological responses to natural patterns in architecture Mai, 2018
# Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, 2018
# International association of empirical aesthetics, 2014
http://www.science-of-aesthetics.org
# Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 2018
https://www.mpg.de/6971390/empirische_aesthetik