IF YOU鈥橰E neurotic or difficult to get along with you鈥檙e more likely to
prefer pop or abstract art, according to psychologists at University College
London.
They studied 121 people鈥檚 taste in art and found that up to a fifth of their
likes and dislikes could be explained by their personality. Conscientious,
conventional types preferred representational paintings such as landscapes, but
so did thrill seekers鈥攊f they went to art galleries at all (European
Journal of Personality, vol 15, p 57).
Lead author Adrian Furnham hopes the results might help people guess the
personality of someone they鈥檝e just met by what they hang on their walls. But he
was embarrassed by his own conventional tastes. 鈥淚t means I鈥檓 a conservative,
conscientious old fart,鈥� he says.
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