For many years, the psychological study of aesthetics has been an area of research (e.g., ^{Boas, 1928}; ^{Fechner, 1876}). There have been studies on aesthetic experience, often with a focus on the roles of emotion and empathy (^{Freedberg & Gallese, 2007}). There have been studies on aesthetic pleasure, often with a focus on the roles of color and our bodies’ resonance with the art we are viewing (^{Dutton, 2009}; ^{Leder, Belke, Oeberst, & Augustin, 2004}; ^{Lipps, 1903}). There have also been studies on aesthetic preferences, often with a focus on the role of reward regions of the brain (^{Calvo-Merino, Urgesi, Orgs, Aglioti, & Haggard, 2010}; ^{Reber, Schwartz, & Winkielman, 2004}; ^{Topolinski, 2010}).

The first true cross-cultural comparative work in aesthetics comes from ^{Barry's (1957)} research, in which he tested for a correl ation between severity of socialization and style of art among a sample of non-literate societies. Barry drew from ^{Whiting and Child's (1953)} research, selecting 30 non-literate societies from their list of 76. ^{Barry (1957)} selected the societies from which he was able to find at least 10 works of graphic art (either exhibited in museums or as illustrations in ethnographic reports) and he coded the level of artistic complexity of each of the 30 society's works of art. ^{Barry (1957)} used many codes, including overall complexity of the design, presence of enclosed figures, presence of curved lines, crowdedness of space, and asymmetry of design. After coding each society's art for its level of complexity, he related these levels of artistic complexity to Whiting and Child's (1953) measures of “severity of socialization” in these same 30 societies. ^{Barry (1957)} revealed that the level of artistic complexity found in various societies around the world correlated strongly and significantly with the severity of socialization experienced by young children in those societies.

In a subsequent study, ^{Rohner (1975)} found that 15 societies in ^{Barry's (1957)} sample overlapped with his sample. Rohner took the data from these 15 societies to examine the cross-cultural relationship between parental acceptance- rejection (Rohner's [1975] variable) and complexity of art (Barry's [1957] variable). ^{Rohner's (1975)} results supported the earlier findings by ^{Barry (1957)}, in that societies coded as being somewhat “rejecting” by ^{Rohner's (1975)} measure (i.e., harsher and more rejecting parenting practices) were characterized in ^{Barry's (1957)} study as having greater complexity of artistic design, whereas societies coded as being more “accepting;; (i.e., warmer and more affectionate parenting practices) were represented with lower complexity of artistic design. Both ^{Barry's (1957)} and ^{Rohner's (1975)} research led to the tentative conclusion that across cultures, rejecting experiences in childhood (i.e., greater severity of socialization) are associated with more artistically complex design.

In a succeeding paper, ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} highlight that more studies are needed to validate and generalize both ^{Barry's (1957)} initial and ^{Rohner's (1975)} subsequent findings. Therefore, ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} sought to find if they too could establish the relationship between severity of parenting practices and artistic complexity, via a different measurement process and a different context. Specifically, ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} posed the following research question: “Is there a relationship in America between the degree to which individuals recall themselves as having been rejected as children, and their current preference for graphic art varying in complexity of design?” (p. 2 53).

To address their research question, ^{Rohner and Frampton, 1982} conducted an intracultural study in the U.S. with 25 participants (15 females, 10 males) ranging in age from 17 to 77 years, with race(s) unspecified. ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} noted that there is no single, specific art tradition in the U.S., and therefore a departure had to be made from ^{Barry's (1957)} format of coding artistic productions characteristic of total cultures. ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} focused on the relationship between adults’ current artistic preferences and their retrospective recollections of their childhood experiences in terms of perceived parental acceptance and rejection.

^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} measured perceived parental rejection via the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (^{Rohner, Saavedra, & Granum, 1980}), a self-report questionnaire in which adults are asked to reflect on the warmth and rejection they experienced as children within their families. Responses were given to 60 statements on a 4-point scale, in terms of how well each statement described the way their major caretaker (usually their mother) treated them when they were between 7 to 12 years of age. Example items are: “Paid no attention to me when I asked for help” and “Made it easy for me to tell him/her things that were important to me.” Each participant was asked to choose their primary caretaker and to answer about that person only. A higher cumulative score indicates a stronger perception of having been rejected, and a lower cumulative score indicates a stronger perception of having been accepted.

Artistic preference was measured by two sets of photographs of paintings (Set A and Set B), all within the same genre and chosen by ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)}. Both Set A and Set B contained five photographs ranked by two independent judges according to degree of complexity. Artistic complexity was determined by the 11 criteria provided in ^{Barry's (1957)} study. There was perfect agreement between the judges’ rankings of pictures in bot h Set A and Set B. The least complex picture in each set got a complexity score of 1, and the most complex got a score of 5. ^{Rohner and Frampton's (1982)} participants were asked to focus on the style of the pictures more than on their content and to rank the pictures in order of preference. ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} determined each participant's artistic preference score by multiplying each picture's complexity code by the rank score the participant assigned to it. This was calculated for both Set A and Set B. ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} summed the Set A score and the Set B score and the mean of these two scores was used as the overall artistic preference score. A higher score indicated that the participant preferred more complex art.

^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} found that greater recollected parental acceptance was associated with a stronger preference for artistic complexity, which was an unexpected result because it did not replicate ^{Barry's (1957)} and ^{Rohner's (1975)} earlier findings. In an effort to interpret the results, ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} examined if the participants’ scores for the Parental Acceptance - Rejection Questionnaire (^{Rohner et al., 1980}) and scores for artistic preference were associated with any of the demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, level of education). No associations were found.

^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} highlighted that their research leaves an unexplained contradiction to ^{Barry's (1957)} and ^{Rohner's (1975)} findings, as ^{Rohner and Frampton's (1982)} findings conclude that parental acceptance (not rejection) is associated with preferring more artistic complexity. ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} noted that they do not have a clear theoretical explanation for these contradictory results. Further, ^{Rohner and Frampton (1982)} noted three important differences between their study and ^{Barry's (1957)} and Rohner's (1975) earlier studies. First, ^{Rohner and Frampton's (1982)} study focused on artistic preferences, but ^{Barry's (1957)} and ^{Rohner's (1975)} earlier studies focused on artistic productions typical of whole cultures. Second, there was a restricted range of variation reported for perceived acceptance and rejection among ^{Rohner and Frampton's (1982)} sample. Only one person in the sample had a cutoff score for serious rejection. Third, the participants in ^{Rohner and Frampton's (1982)} study were reflecting on their childhood experiences, but in ^{Barry's (1957)} and ^{Rohner's (1975)} earlier studies, the focus was on parenting practices when they actually occurred.