Visual Intelligence and Analogical Thinking

features of visual composition on the basis of unconsciously perceived analogies to clements of real-world experience. As Bang puts it: This word assoc:lalc is the key to the whole process of how picture structure affects our emotions. . . . We associate pointed shapes with real pointed objects. We associate red with real blood and fire. Specific clements such as points or color or size seem to call up the emotions we felt when we experienced actual sharp point~ or colors or noticeably large or small thing.~. (p. 102) Similar assumptions about the meaning of visual composition can be found in the work of other practicing artists. Among painters in the Western fine-arts tradition, an especially noteworthy investigator of these matters was Georges Seurat, who eventually developed an explicit theory that parallels Bang's in its essential details (Homer, 1964; Lee, 1990). for instance, he believed that a wedge-like shape pointing toward the top of a canvas would evoke both dynamism-because of the association with the properties of knives or other sharp-edged objects-and buoyancy-because of the association with upward movement in general. Consequently, in his rendition of scenes in which these qualities were an appropriate part of the tone he was trying to convey, Scurat would incorporate upward-pointing wedge shapes in the composition even when that meant sacrificing some of the naturalistic appearance of the image. As Homer (pp. 220-234) has noted, this practice is evident in such paintings as ''Lc Cirque" (1891) and "Lc Chahut" (1890), in which upward-pointing tapers arc added to the facial features of a circus acrobat, in the former case, and a line of highstepping dances, in the latter. 50 e THEORETICAL BASES FOR COMMUNICATIVE AND VISUAL ARTS TEACHING In recent years, the assumptions underlying practices of this sort have been tested experimentally by such researchers as Hartmut Espc, whose work deals with advertising and industrial design. In Espe's experimems, viewers arc shown pictures of absu-.tct twoor three-dimensional objects and asked to indicate what meanings these objects express. One of Espc's studies investigated viewers' responses to three kinds of shapes: angular (triangle, star), orthogonal (square, rectangle), and curved (circle, ellipse). Viewers were asked to rate these shapes on two dimensions of meaning: how powerful and how active they appeared. Espe's assumption about the angular shapes was very much the same as Bang's and Scurat's: by analogy to the properties of real-world angular objects (wedges, knives, etc.), he expected these shapes to be seen as both powerful and active. For reasons that should be equally apparent, he expected the orthogonal shapes to be rated powerful but inactive, and the curved shapes to be rated neither powerful nor active. All these expectations were confirmed by the experimental results, which can therefore be seen as providing empirical support for the theoretical approach represented by Bang, Seurat, and scholars like Arnheim. Espe has also found, however, that the role of analogy in visual interpretation can be affected critically by context. For example, when viewers arc shown a circle in a context that makes it appear three-dimensional instead of flat, the rating.-; of activity and power go up, perhaps because it is now seen as analogous to a ball, with connotations of sports. The kinds of visual analogies investigated by Espc and illustr.ued in the ex:tm pies from Bang and Scurat arc relatively simple in the sense that they involve actual physical similarities between clements of a visual design and objects in the real world. For educational purposes, examples such as these may be the most convenient means for introducing the concepts of analogical representation to students. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the analogical meanings in real works of art can always, or even frequently, be accounted for in such direct terms. A crucial feature of analogical thinking in art is its capacity to evoke meaning on the basis of purely conceptual parallels between the formal properties of a picture and the structural characteristics of some aspect of realworld experience. This was the case in the examples cited earlier from Arnhcim, whose students were able to give visual form to the emotional qualities of marital relationships. The connection between visual education and the enhancement of intelligence seems especially clear in such instances. The usc of visual analogy for the sorts of complex purposes illustrated by Arnhci m has been examined cross-culturally in a series of related studies. This body of research began with an investigation by Fischer (1961) , an anthropologist concerned with the art of traditional, preindustrial cultures. Fischer was interested in the possibility that there might be an analogical connection between the stylistic features of a society's visual arts and the broader cultural values of that society. More specifically, he assumed that the relationships among design elements in a society's artWorks might mirror the society's prevailing patterns of social relationship. For example, equality in a society's interpersonal relationships might be reflected by symmetrical compositions in a society's art, while the presence of rigid distinctions among the members of a society might be reflected in its art by distinct boundaries around the compositional clements. Fischer tested these assumptions with a sample of some 30 traditional cultures, such as the Ashanti, Balinese, and Navajo, from various parts of the world. The results of these tests strongly supported his theory. Furthermore, similar findings have since been reported by researchers working with other cultures (e.g., Dressler, & Robbins, 1975; Hatcher, 1988; Pocius, 1979). Taken together, these findings suggest that educating students about visual analogy in art may also give them a new window into other people's cultural values. POINT OF VIEW IN VISUAL ART The aspects of composition that have been examined up to this point have to do with the arrangement of design clements on the surface ofthe image. The time has now come to turn to a different type of compositional device in which analogical connections also play a major role. This device has to do with the point of view from which the image is presented to the viewer. In other words, what is at stake with this device is the vic..-wer's placement relative to the people or places in a picture: close-up or more distant, c..;re-levcl or at an angle, and so on. The analogical basis of point of view has been analyzed in detail by Meyrowitz (1986), who argues that people respond to this device by analogy to the ways in which they respond to interpersonal distance and orientation in realworld social relationships. For example, since proximity in real life is related to intimacy and involvement, a close-up in an image should elicit relatively greater engagement from the viewer. Similarly, since bigger people arc often stronger than smaller ones, a view from below may make the person in an image appear more powerful in the eyes of the spectator. Point of view is an important compositional device in drawing, painting, and photography, as well a.o; film and video camerawork. Indeed, in fictional movies the distance between the camera and the subject is one of the principal visual means for such effects as heightening the intensity of a scene as it moves towards its climax, maintaining the viewer's sympathy with the hero and emotional distance from secondary characters, or releasing the tension of the movie following the resolution ofthc action. Nevertheless, despite its importance in these and other situations, the potential uses of point of view often seem to be overlooked when nonprofessionals make pictures. Studies of amateur filmmakers :md of young people learning to make movies find that both groups tend to record the action from a single, unvarying perspective (Chalfen, 1982; Griffin, 1985). It appears, therefore, that there is considerable scope for visual education in this area. Moreover, in view of the analogical connection between everyday social interactions and the uses of point of view in the visual media, it is conceivable that learning how to employ this compositional device effectively may have the additional consequence of strengthening students' real-world perspectivetaking skills. Yet another reason why visual educators might want to focus on point of view has to do with the political and advcnising applications of this device. There is considerable evidence that manipulations of point of view can be effective instruments of visual persuasion in commercial advenisements and in political imagery. At the same time, though, there is reason to believe that viewers tend to overlook these manipulations. Consequently, drawing students' attention to point of view could contribute to the development of infanned, critical attitudes toward potential hifluences of the visual media. Some indication of the need for this fonn of visual education comes from an experiment by Mandell and Shaw (1973) concerning the usc of low camera angles in political imagery. This convention has a long history, espe· cially-though by no means exclusively-in totalitarian politi· cal regimes. In Mandell and Shaw's study, college students were asked to make judgments about a political figure appearing in a newscast. There were three versions of this person's image: one taken at eye-level, the others at angles of 12 degrees below and above his L-yes. Each student saw only one of these three versions. As the authors had predicted, judgments of how powerful the person looked were significantly higher among the students who saw the low-angle version. However, most of the students did not seem conscious of the influence ofangle of view. At the conclusion of the study,they were asked directly to comment about camera angles used in the newscast. Out of a