Social Meaning Brings Beauty

Abstract

In the study discussed in this chapter, the authors found that concrete pictographs elicited variable aesthetic appraisals related to the aesthetic qualities of the reference objects. In addition, Chinese characters are also produced in the form of metaphorical writing symbols that convey social concepts (ideographic symbols of oracle bone script). The study investigated whether the reference social meanings altered neural responses in the aesthetic appraisal of oracle bone scripts. Similar to the findings of pictographs, the beauty judgment of positive oracle bone scripts activated the occipital lobe for perceptual processing, frontal lobe for cognitive judgment, and right putamen for rewarding experience. However, only perceptual processing regions were found in the ugly judgment of negative oracle bone scripts. Results indicated that aesthetic appraisal of oracle bone scripts mainly depended on the valence of the reference social meanings and was in accordance with the stereotype of “what is good is beautiful, and bad is ugly.”