Shared Friend Criteria Modulate Aesthetic Judgment of Faces and Paintings but Not Moral Beauty
7 affiliations
- 1School of Health Management, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Medical and Health Industry High Quality Development Rule of Law Guarantee Research Center，Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- 3School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- 4Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- 5Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- 6Department of Psychology, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
- 7Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
Abstract
Aesthetic preferences are shaped by social context, yet the influence of close peers’ standards across different aesthetic domains remains unclear. This study investigated whether friends’ aesthetic criteria modulate individuals’ judgments of faces, paintings, and moral beauty using a modified social conformity paradigm across three experiments. Results showed that individuals’ aesthetic judgments of faces and paintings were significantly influenced by their friends’ ratings, shifting systematically toward peer evaluations. In contrast, judgments of moral beauty were largely unaffected by peer influence. These findings suggest that social cognitive factors shape aesthetic judgment in a domain-specific manner: stimuli with relatively objective perceptual features (e.g., facial averageness and painting composition) are more susceptible to social influence, whereas moral beauty—grounded in internalized values—remains more resistant.
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BibTeX
@article{zhao2026shared,
title = {{Shared Friend Criteria Modulate Aesthetic Judgment of Faces and Paintings but Not Moral Beauty}},
author = {Tingting Zhao and Yaqing Deng and Yatian Lei and Xianyou He and Chaoqiong Deng and Wei Meng},
journal = {Evolutionary Psychology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1177/14747049261474753},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049261474753},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Shared Friend Criteria Modulate Aesthetic Judgment of Faces and Paintings but Not Moral Beauty
AU - Tingting Zhao
AU - Yaqing Deng
AU - Yatian Lei
AU - Xianyou He
AU - Chaoqiong Deng
AU - Wei Meng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
JO - Evolutionary Psychology
DO - 10.1177/14747049261474753
UR - https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049261474753
AB - Aesthetic preferences are shaped by social context, yet the influence of close peers’ standards across different aesthetic domains remains unclear. This study investigated whether friends’ aesthetic criteria modulate individuals’ judgments of faces, paintings, and moral beauty using a modified social conformity paradigm across three experiments. Results showed that individuals’ aesthetic judgments of faces and paintings were significantly influenced by their friends’ ratings, shifting systematically toward peer evaluations. In contrast, judgments of moral beauty were largely unaffected by peer influence. These findings suggest that social cognitive factors shape aesthetic judgment in a domain-specific manner: stimuli with relatively objective perceptual features (e.g., facial averageness and painting composition) are more susceptible to social influence, whereas moral beauty—grounded in internalized values—remains more resistant.
SN - 1474-7049
ER -