Balance in pictures

Abstract

Three experiments are reported on the phenomenon of the subjective balance of pictures. Subjects were asked to place a fulcrum beneath a picture so that it looked balanced. In Expt 1 reproductions of works of art were used as stimuli. Pictures showed large differences in balance point; subjects showed smaller differences, unrelated to handedness or eye‐dominance. Monochrome reproductions produced similar balance scores to coloured reproductions. Chopping a portion from one end of a picture showed that particular features are not the origin of the balance phenomenon, but rather the balance judgement incorporates an integration of information across the entire picture field. In Expt 2 abstract controlled stimuli were used; balance depended primarily upon the position of an object, and to a lesser degree on its size and colour. Experiment 3 used stimuli similar to those in Expt 2 and showed that subjects differed in the way that they extrapolated from side length to the mass of a rectangular object, that vertical position had no influence upon balance, and that the shape of a rectangle did relate to balance, the effect interacting with the degree of artificial perspective induced in the stimulus.