Landscape preferences provide a means for quantifying a
person’s judgement of the aesthetic qualities and are based primarily on the
landscape as perceived by sight, although this may be supplemented by sounds
and even smells detected by one’s olfactory system. Landscape preference is
undoubtedly not simply a function of some innate preference. Experience clearly
has a profound influence on human perception and preference. Only a few studies
have commented on the multifaceted origins of landscape preferences. This
chapter identifies the various influences of Western aesthetic preferences of
landscapes in answer to the question, why do humans find landscapes attractive?
A four-level model of influences is proposed, based on the innate or
evolutionary influences applicable to all humanity, through the cultural and
the societal, to the individual. The study is confined to Western perspectives
of landscape aesthetics. At the innate level are landscape theories that
postulate the reasons why humans find landscapes attractive, the philosophical
underpinnings of human delight in landscapes, and the Gestalt influence on
preferences. The cultural influence comprises the legend of Arcadia and the
Golden Age, classicism, teleology, landscape painting, and the emergence of the
sublime, the beautiful, the picturesque, and Romanticism. At the societal level
are the artistic pursuits of landscape painting and the development of parks
and gardens. Also at the societal level is Western society’s attitude to
mountains, which changed radically in the 17th century. Individuals are
influenced by psychoanalytical pressures on the subconscious, by unconscious
experiences in infancy, such as a human’s preference for water, for which the
paper offers a novel explanation (prenatal amniotic fluid imprint), and by the
influence of neuroaesthetics, which analyses how the brain responds to
aesthetic objects. Finally, research on landscape preferences over 50 years
provides insights into the influence of landscape components, reflecting the influence
of the innate, cultural, and societal factors. The combined realms of influence
of each of these factors are hypothesised to explain human responses to
landscapes. These offer potentially fruitful areas for research.
Author(s) Details
Andrew Lothian
Independent Researcher, Adelaide 5061, Australia.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nhstc/v7/6870
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